Gordon Brown
Labour's first Chancellor of the Exchequer since Dennis Healey, Gordon Brown (born 20/2/51) has cultivated an image of gloomy self-discipline despite being described by those who know him as a romantic and chaotic character -as a bachelor both his flat and office were said to be a shambles!
He garnered a great deal of public sympathy in the wake of the tragic early death of his first child - a private tragedy that had public impact in putting back the date of the 2002 budget to April, making it the first April budget in more than two decades.
One of the enduring public memories of Gordon is that of a deeply embarrassing photo-opportunity ahead of one of his early budgets. He perched uncomfortably on a nursery chair trying to keep Gavin Davies (ex-chairmanof the BBC) and Sue Nye's small son on his lap - the child had other ideas entirely.
He enjoys (or perhaps doesn't enjoy) an uneven relationship with his next door neighbour in Downing Street although there is no doubt that the Blair/Brown combination proved remarkably effective in the government's first term. Gordon was touted by his boss as an "iron chancellor".
It was Brown's decision (albeit apparently a grudging one) not to contest the Labour Party leadership in 1994 that handed victory to Tony Blair. In opposition Gordon Brown was instrumental in identifying areas of Tory vulnerability, such as directors' pay and perks .
Early on in his Chancellorship, within days of taking office, he surprised observers by granting virtual independence on interest rate policy to the Bank of England with the establishment of a new Monetary Policy Committee .
His first budget was well received among the business community for cutting corporation tax and delivering £5.2 billion of revenue from a windfall tax - the money being used to put young people back to work and to provide for other welfare schemes.
However, business has been less impressed with succeeding budgets. The chancellor now has a reputation as an arch-tax complicator and of having increased the burden on both companies andindividuals by stealth - it had become something of mantra not to increasethe headline rates of income tax.
The individual savings account ISA ) is just one example of the Gordon Brown 's abilityto make something more complicated. He abolished PEPs and TESSAs, replacing them with ISAs, offering us less attractive tax breaks in much more complicated vehicles The big unresolved question of his chancellorship rests in the 'five economic tests' regarding any move to take the UK into the Euro-zone.