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Wednesday, May 11

The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP
Former Prime Minister of Great Britain

Scotland’s Gordon Brown was first elected to Great Britain’s Parliament in 1983. He shared his first office in the House of Commons with Tony Blair. The two friends worked together to secure the Labour Party’s landslide victory in 1997. For 10 years, Brown served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. During his tenure as chancellor, Great Britain experienced its longest-ever period of economic growth. He also made the Bank of England independent and delivered an agreement at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit to support the world’s poorest countries and tackle climate change. Brown served as the Chairman of the International Monetary Funds’s (IMF) International Monetary and Financial Committee from 1999 until June, 2007.

In June 2007, Brown succeeded Blair as prime minister, a position he held until May 2010. As prime minister, Brown introduced neighborhood policing, legislated the right to early cancer screening and treatment and proposed the world’s first ever Climate Change Act, which went into force in 2008.

The greatest challenge Brown faced in office was the worldwide financial crisis and subsequent recession. In April 2009, he hosted the G20 Summit in London where world leaders joined him in making an additional $1.1 trillion available to help the world economy by restoring credit, strengthening financial supervision and regulation and stimulating jobs and economic growth. That same year he withdrew British forces from Iraq.

Renowned for his passion for global justice and environmental issues, Brown will deliver an “across the Atlantic” perspective on world problems and opportunities.

Location

Mendel Center, Lake Michigan College
2755 East Napier, Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Google Maps

Upton Hall Members

Ticket sales are open at noon on April 25 thru noon on May 6.
Doors open 5 p.m. (Michigan time)
Dinner 6:15 p.m.
Speaker introductions 7:20 p.m.

Mainstage Auditorium Members

Doors open 6 p.m. (Michigan time) for social hour
Speaker introductions 6:55 p.m.