Tonight, a friend of mine, Magda, and I listened to a speech followed by a question and answer session with the former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Since Labour losing the parliamentary election of 6 May 2010 to a Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government, Gordon Brown has stepped down as his party’s leader and taken his ranks among the back benchers. The former prime minster, an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh and Scottish native, has been making the case for a global response to national problems.
The beginning of Mr Brown’s speech focused around memorable highlights of his 28 year career in the House of Commons – which included ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer and the previous four as Prime Minister of Her Majesty’s Government. The speech was hosted by the University of Edinburgh and Blackwell’s bookshop in the George Square lecture theatre and featured a sold-out crowd of well over 300 people, many of whom were from the academic community of Edinburgh. Magda and I sat front and centre with only an agent of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Protection separating us from the former head of government. Brown looked at the crowd and immediately told the story of his first campaign for parliament, back in 1983, in which only three people attended the meet and greet, including him. Brown said that his journey through politics could be summed up by the custodian at the university telling him, “Mr Brown, I’m sure glad you remembered your roots on the way up and then again on the way down.” Mr Brown studied history and politics at the University of Edinburgh, earning a BA (Hon), MA and PhD while serving a three year stint as Rector of the University.[1]
Brown talked about how 300 years ago the first Scottish banking crisis resulted in a nationalized bail-out and the merger of the Scottish and English houses of parliament. He described this as a national solution to a local problem. In 2008, when news broke that Northern Rock, followed by Bradford & Bingley and the Royal Bank of Scotland were to be nationalized, along with the forced merger (shotgun wedding) of Lloyds TSB and Halifax-Bank of Scotland to stabilized the British economy[2] it became apparent that while these banks were headquartered in the UK, much of the risky investments, such as the purchasing of debt bundles from American sub-prime mortgages, were outwith the purview of British regulators at the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
“In every forum, my theme was that the financial crisis reflected a global problem that could not be resolved by one nation alone but needed a global solution”, Gordon Brown emphasised numerous times during the evening.[3] Brown called for addressing the problems posed by 2007-2009 crises in public international law, creating an international banking tax scheme, along with national regulations creating higher reserves and criminal laws for bad faith and undue-diligence. The former prime minister also called for the shutting down of international tax havens, calling them loopholes for circumventing national revenue tax collectors. This was a point I disagreed with, as the UK is in a good position to compete head-to-head with these so called tax havens, by lowering business taxes and creating a more favourable investing climate to stimulate the private sector to keep assets within the British Isles.
Mr Brown said he accepted full responsibility for what happened, as he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer the decade prior to the financial crisis. He went on to explain that what was known was limited and his office was preparing for an inflation crisis and had no warnings that an even greater threat existed, which was the concept of many banks failing at once due to poor liquidity and the purchasing of foreign toxic debt and speculations which were tantamount to gaming with Briton’s savings and investments. He averred that the problem requires global solutions, especially went banks are linked internationally. Mr Brown’s solution is a global banking tax to create a reserve fund for such an event as a global financial windfall.
“The American dream is one of the most powerful and enduring stories of hope that
continues to inspire the world,” writes the former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in the opening sentence of chapter six of his new book, Beyond the Crash.[4] Before a joint-session of the US Congress, Brown said, “[E]arly in my life I came to understand that America is not just the indispensible nation, it is the irrepressible nation.”[5] Brown warns, the American dream is under new and unique pressures with consequences not just for the US but for the world, “The manifestations of this are high unemployment, falling middle-class incomes, and concern about educational opportunities and upward mobility amid rising competitive pressures from Asia.”[6] Brown explained the crunch on the middle class is an area of the economy to watch out for, as they are the ones who have been the biggest contributors to fuelling economic growth and providing a standard for morals.
Mr Brown concluded the evening by saying he was optimistic about the future, as new markets emerging in Asia would create demand for western made goods and services allowing for increased economic growth in both the service and manufacturing sectors. He said to stay abreast of the east, the US and EU must invest in higher education to train the specialists of the next decade, look for ways to create jobs – as to prevent another lost decade as he saw in Britain during the 1980s, and fund science and technology.
After the speech and question time I approached Mr Brown, shook his hand as he was taking off his microphone and he said to me, "...there, now I can talk to you." I asked if I could have a photo taken with him and he agreed, telling me how much he admired America and was happy to see the exchange and diffusion of knowledge across the pond. He then signed my copy of Beyond the Crash and shook my hand saying, “thank you.”
Magda and I walk out of the lecture theatre chatting about his talk, debating the pros and cons of his averments and observations along with chuckling about the number of times he said “global solutions” in the course of an hour. All in all I was very impressed with his address and am very proud to of had the honour of meeting a British prime minister.
The beginning of Mr Brown’s speech focused around memorable highlights of his 28 year career in the House of Commons – which included ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer and the previous four as Prime Minister of Her Majesty’s Government. The speech was hosted by the University of Edinburgh and Blackwell’s bookshop in the George Square lecture theatre and featured a sold-out crowd of well over 300 people, many of whom were from the academic community of Edinburgh. Magda and I sat front and centre with only an agent of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Protection separating us from the former head of government. Brown looked at the crowd and immediately told the story of his first campaign for parliament, back in 1983, in which only three people attended the meet and greet, including him. Brown said that his journey through politics could be summed up by the custodian at the university telling him, “Mr Brown, I’m sure glad you remembered your roots on the way up and then again on the way down.” Mr Brown studied history and politics at the University of Edinburgh, earning a BA (Hon), MA and PhD while serving a three year stint as Rector of the University.[1]
Brown talked about how 300 years ago the first Scottish banking crisis resulted in a nationalized bail-out and the merger of the Scottish and English houses of parliament. He described this as a national solution to a local problem. In 2008, when news broke that Northern Rock, followed by Bradford & Bingley and the Royal Bank of Scotland were to be nationalized, along with the forced merger (shotgun wedding) of Lloyds TSB and Halifax-Bank of Scotland to stabilized the British economy[2] it became apparent that while these banks were headquartered in the UK, much of the risky investments, such as the purchasing of debt bundles from American sub-prime mortgages, were outwith the purview of British regulators at the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
“In every forum, my theme was that the financial crisis reflected a global problem that could not be resolved by one nation alone but needed a global solution”, Gordon Brown emphasised numerous times during the evening.[3] Brown called for addressing the problems posed by 2007-2009 crises in public international law, creating an international banking tax scheme, along with national regulations creating higher reserves and criminal laws for bad faith and undue-diligence. The former prime minister also called for the shutting down of international tax havens, calling them loopholes for circumventing national revenue tax collectors. This was a point I disagreed with, as the UK is in a good position to compete head-to-head with these so called tax havens, by lowering business taxes and creating a more favourable investing climate to stimulate the private sector to keep assets within the British Isles.
Mr Brown said he accepted full responsibility for what happened, as he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer the decade prior to the financial crisis. He went on to explain that what was known was limited and his office was preparing for an inflation crisis and had no warnings that an even greater threat existed, which was the concept of many banks failing at once due to poor liquidity and the purchasing of foreign toxic debt and speculations which were tantamount to gaming with Briton’s savings and investments. He averred that the problem requires global solutions, especially went banks are linked internationally. Mr Brown’s solution is a global banking tax to create a reserve fund for such an event as a global financial windfall.
“The American dream is one of the most powerful and enduring stories of hope that
continues to inspire the world,” writes the former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in the opening sentence of chapter six of his new book, Beyond the Crash.[4] Before a joint-session of the US Congress, Brown said, “[E]arly in my life I came to understand that America is not just the indispensible nation, it is the irrepressible nation.”[5] Brown warns, the American dream is under new and unique pressures with consequences not just for the US but for the world, “The manifestations of this are high unemployment, falling middle-class incomes, and concern about educational opportunities and upward mobility amid rising competitive pressures from Asia.”[6] Brown explained the crunch on the middle class is an area of the economy to watch out for, as they are the ones who have been the biggest contributors to fuelling economic growth and providing a standard for morals.Mr Brown concluded the evening by saying he was optimistic about the future, as new markets emerging in Asia would create demand for western made goods and services allowing for increased economic growth in both the service and manufacturing sectors. He said to stay abreast of the east, the US and EU must invest in higher education to train the specialists of the next decade, look for ways to create jobs – as to prevent another lost decade as he saw in Britain during the 1980s, and fund science and technology.
After the speech and question time I approached Mr Brown, shook his hand as he was taking off his microphone and he said to me, "...there, now I can talk to you." I asked if I could have a photo taken with him and he agreed, telling me how much he admired America and was happy to see the exchange and diffusion of knowledge across the pond. He then signed my copy of Beyond the Crash and shook my hand saying, “thank you.”
Magda and I walk out of the lecture theatre chatting about his talk, debating the pros and cons of his averments and observations along with chuckling about the number of times he said “global solutions” in the course of an hour. All in all I was very impressed with his address and am very proud to of had the honour of meeting a British prime minister.
__________________________________________
[1] “Gordon Brown as Rector”, http://www.archives.lib.ed.ac.uk/gallery/brown.shtml (accessed:17 February 2011)
[2] UK House of Commons, Finance Report Re the Banking Crisis of 2008, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmtreasy/956/956.pdf (assessed: 17 February 2010)
[3] G Brown, Beyond the Crash: overcoming the first crisis of globalisation (Simon & Schuster, London 2010) 45
[4] G Brown, Beyond the Crash, 143
[5] Since the 1st US Congress in 1789, only 105 foreign heads of state, government or diplomats have addressed a Joint-Session of Congress.
[6] G Brown, Beyond the Crash, 143
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