Gordon Brown was born in 1951 and went to school in Kirkcaldy. He studied at Edinburgh University, where he gained a PhD and was elected the youngest ever Rector.

In 1983 Gordon Brown was elected to Parliament. Today, as MP for the constituency where he was brought up, he is proud to represent his former school friends, and their families in an area where his family roots go back three hundred years.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown presided over the longest period of growth ever, creating two and a half million more jobs, and lifting 600,000 children out of poverty. Not afraid of taking bold, long-term decisions, one of his first acts was to make the Bank of England independent. Gordon helped to deliver agreement at the Gleneagles Summit to support the world's poorest countries and to tackle climate change.

Gordon Brown has written a number of books: a biography of James Maxton; Values, Visions and Voices; and The Real Divide, a study with Robin Cook of poverty and inequality. More recently a collection of his speech has been published as Moving Britain Forward. His book, Courage - Eight Portraits, looks at eight of his heroes and the influence they have had.