The Right Honorable Des Browne MP

Des Browne has been the MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 1997. After being elected to Parliament in 1997, Des made his name with strong speeches particularly on human rights, Northern Ireland, and Social Security, and was asked by Donald Dewar to become his Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in 1998. He helped Donald pilot the Scotland Act through Parliament. After service on the Public Administration Select Committee, Northern Ireland Minister Adam Ingram asked him to become his PPS in 2000. He was then elected to the first Joint Committee on Human Rights as the only Scottish Labour backbencher, a position he held until the election of 2001.

Having been returned to Westminster in 2001, Des was asked by the Prime Minister to become the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Northern Ireland. He became responsible for a number of issues, including victims and cross-border issues. Following the suspension of Stormont, he also took up responsibility for the Health Service and Social Security. In June 2003, after two years in the Northern Ireland Office, the Prime Minister promoted him to the post of Minister for Work at the Department for Work and Pensions. In this role, he was responsible for Jobcentre Plus, the New Deal, and Health and Safety among other issues. However, after only nine months in that post, the Prime Minister called on him to take on the sensitive and key role of Minister for Immigration and Citizenship in the Home Office.

Des was again returned as the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun in May 2005, and in the reshuffle which followed the election, he was promoted to the cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Together with other duties, in this new role Des had responsibility for public expenditure. He was also appointed to the Privy Council, one of the oldest parts of government. Des was Secretary of State for Defence between May 2006 and October 2008. In this post he was the Cabinet Minister charged with making and executing Defence policy, and with providing the means by which it is executed, the Armed Forces. He was also Secretary of State for Scotland between June 2007 and October 2008. He held this post jointly with the post of Secretary of State for Defence. As Secretary of State for Scotland he represented the interests of Scotland in Cabinet, particularly in those matters reserved to the Government by the Scotland Act.