Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown, born February 20, 1951, in Giffnock, Scotland, served as Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from June 2007 to May 2010, after more than a decade as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair. As prime minister he led Britain's response to the 2008 global financial crisis, coordinating a bank recapitalization and bailout program widely credited with helping avert a wider collapse of the British banking system. His government lost its majority in the 2010 general election, leading to Britain's first coalition government since the Second World War.