Brownism

This article is about politics of the British Labour Party. For the attitudes of English church reformer Robert Browne, see Brownist.

In British politics, Brownism is the social democratic political ideology of the former Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party Gordon Brown and those that follow him. Proponents of Brownism are referred to as Brownites.

Ideology

Brownism is understood by Anthony Giddens and others as a social democratic ideology, characterised by its distinction from the ideology of New Labour under Tony Blair, with Brownism generally understood as tolerating less enthusiasm about market driven reforms such as tuition fees and foundation hospitals, more keen on the role of the state,^[1] and less critical of Labour's links to the unions.^[2] Compared to Blairism, Brownism places more emphasis on constitutional reform, advancing ideas of a "new constitutional settlement", alongside a "robust concern for redistributive politics" with commitments to reducing poverty and expanding the welfare state;^[3][4] Will Hutton opined: "Like Tony Blair [Gordon Brown] is a believer in a pluralist and fair society, social mobility, and marrying economic efficiency with social justice".^[5]

Brownism retains much of the economic pragmatism of New Labour, characterised by commitments to liberalised markets and "responsible capitalism", with light-touch approaches to financial regulation and tax. Brownite pragmatism was demonstrated during the 2008 Financial Crisis which occurred during the Premiership of Gordon Brown, with the UK Government response comprising the nationalisation of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Northern Rock – with both conservative and left-leaning governments worldwide following this approach.^[4] Brown described "the values of fairness, stewardship and cooperation" as underpinning this approach to markets, and has criticised the "weaknesses of unbridled free markets".^[6]

On foreign policy, Brownism is characterised by "complexity, inter-connectedness, and cooperation", with focuses on improving globally under-developed regions, improving human rights, and global social justice – particularly through international aid.^[7][8] Brownism is additionally characterised by significantly greater hesitance towards liberal interventionism compared to Blairism, with focuses on foreign policy advanced through cooperation, and hesitance towards conflict. It emphasises "duties to discharge and responsibilities to keep" where conflict does take place, and places greater distance towards US foreign policy, while retaining commitments to Atlanticism.^[7]

Brownism has been described as lacking an "ideological narrative", something that has been said to have damaged Gordon Brown's "credibility as Labour leader". This has meant that scholars and observers have been able to describe Brownism as neoliberal, while others have described it as social democratic.^[4]

Relationship to prior administrations

See also: Blair–Brown deal

Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister after Brown's long tenure as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Although viewed in the media as somewhat personally close, Blair later wrote in his autobiography A Journey that a "maddening" Brown effectively blackmailed him while he was in 10 Downing Street. Blair accused Brown of orchestrating the investigation into the Cash-for-Honours scandal and stated that the personal animosity was so strong that it led him to frequent drinking, a big change for Blair. Blair also has told journalist Andrew Marr that as their years working together went on, co-operation became "hard going on impossible".^[9]

Blair criticised the departure from much of New Labour ideology under Gordon Brown's premiership, who blamed it for Labour's defeat in the 2010 General Election:

Why did Labour lose the 2010 election? The answer to that, I'm afraid is obvious. Labour won when it was New Labour. It lost because it stopped being New Labour...Had he [Brown] pursued New Labour policy, the personal issue would still have made victory tough, but it wouldn't have been impossible. Departing from New Labour made it so. Just as the 2005 election was one we were never going to lose, 2010 was one we were never going to win – once the fatal strategic decision was taken to abandon the New Labour position.^[3]

Brownites

Other than Brown himself, the following prominent Labour politicians are often considered Brownites, but may not identify themselves as such:

Ed Balls

Harriet Harman

Ed Miliband

Anas Sarwar

• Douglas Alexander – former Secretary of State for International Development and Shadow Foreign Secretary^[10]
• Ian Austin – former Minister for the West Midlands^[11]
• Ed Balls – former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families^[12]
• Nick Brown – former Opposition Chief Whip and Minister for the North East^[13]
• Tom Clarke – former Minister of State for Film and Tourism^[14]
• Yvette Cooper – Shadow Home Secretary and former Work and Pensions Secretary^[15]
• Alistair Darling – former Chancellor of the Exchequer^[16]
• Donald Dewar – former First Minister of Scotland and former Leader of the Scottish Labour Party^[13]
• Michael Dugher – former Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport^[17]
• Nigel Griffiths – former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons^[13]
• Kevan Jones – former Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces^[14]
• Jim Knight – former Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform and Minister for the South West
• Spencer Livermore – Member of the House of Lords
• Tony Lloyd – former Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland^[18]
• Damian McBride – former Downing Street Press Secretary
• Kerry McCarthy – former Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Ed Miliband – Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and former Leader of the Labour Party^[12]
• Sue Nye – Member of the House of Lords
• Rachel Reeves – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Anas Sarwar – Leader of the Scottish Labour Party^[19]
• Siôn Simon – former MP for Birmingham Erdington
• Andrew Smith – former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Chief Secretary to the Treasury
• Shriti Vadera – former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills^[20]
• Emily Thornberry – Shadow Attorney General and former Shadow Foreign Secretary^[21]
• Charlie Whelan – former political director of the British trade union, Unite the Union^[22]
• Tom Watson – former Chair and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party^[23]
• Stewart Wood, Labour peer and former member of the Council of Economic Advisers to HM Treasury^[24]

See also

• Blairism
• Blair–Brown deal

References

1. "The rise and fall of New Labour". New Statesman. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
2. Jones, Nicholas (7 September 2006). "UK | UK Politics | Brownites v Blairites – the full story". BBC News. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
3. Heppell, Timothy (2013). "The Fall of the Brown Government, 2010". How Labour Governments Fall: From Ramsay MacDonald to Gordon Brown. The Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 141–149. ISBN 978-1-137-31421-5.
4. Beech, Matt (2009). "A puzzle of ideas and policy: Gordon Brown as prime minister". The Brown Government: A Policy Evaluation (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 8–13. ISBN 9781317966685.
5. Hutton, Will (21 June 2006). "How to beat Blair: become a Blairite | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
6. "Gordon Brown: Economy can emerge stronger". The Telegraph. 18 October 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
7. Dyson, Stephen (1 January 2011). "New Labour, Leadership, and Foreign Policy-making after 1997". British Foreign Policy: The New Labour Years (1 ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 64–65, 76–83. ISBN 978-1-349-32763-8.
8. Honeyman, Victoria (1 April 2017). "From liberal interventionism to liberal conservatism: The short road in foreign policy from Blair to Cameron". British Politics. 12 (1): 42–62. doi:10.1057/bp.2015.46. ISSN 1746-9198.
9. "Tony Blair: Gordon Brown tried to blackmail me". The Daily Telegraph. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
10. Mulholland, Hélène (28 June 2007). "Profile: Douglas Alexander". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
11. "Brownites ready to back leader from safe seats". The Herald. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
12. Millie, Andrew, Moral politics, moral decline and anti-social behaviour, People, Place & Policy Online (2010): 4/1, p 7.
13. : Life at the Heart of New Labour – Peter Mandelson
14. news.yahoo.com/14/20100825 – cruddas-backs-david-miliband^{[dead link]}
15. "Labour Insiders Say Prioritising Talent Over Loyalty On His Front Bench Could Be Keir Starmer's Undoing". Politics Home. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
16. "Business View: Blair necessities put Brownite in the limelight". The Independent. 6 May 2006. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
17. "Labour leader calls on Brown's bruisers". The Herald. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
18. White, Michael (6 January 2010). "Ballot call over Gordon Brown's leadership – what next?". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
19. Carrell, Severin (20 September 2017). "Scottish Labour candidate Anas Sarwar laughs off 'neoliberal Blairite' tag". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
20. Mark Oliver and agencies (11 May 2007). "Who are the Brownites? | Politics". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
21. "Amid the expenses fury, Aida Edemariam shadows her MP, Emily Thornberry". The Guardian. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
22. "Is Charlie Whelan to leave Unite the Union?". Financial Times.
23. "Series of political knocks took toll on loyal Brownite, Tom Watson". The Guardian. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
24. "Meet ed Miliband's Consigliere". 24 June 2013.