Nick Brown: Hotline to Number 10

Aug 21 2009 By Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

THERE can hardly be a more dedicated public servant than Nick Brown MP. The Newcastle East and Wallsend constituency representative is Government Chief Whip – as such a member of the Cabinet – and, importantly, Minister for the North East of England. This has given him the chance to put the North East at the heart of Government thinking.

He is the region’s representative within Government – making the case for job opportunities; making sure that local priorities are the guiding factor in Whitehall decision-making on schools and housing, and making sure that central decisions such as the drive to improve GPs’ services are flexible enough to reflect the needs of each patient.

Nick has been an MP since 1983, serving in the shadow administrations of Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Margaret Beckett and Tony Blair and the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but he regards his North East "hat" as suiting him best.

"The job I enjoy the most is the post of Minister for the North East of England," he says. "It gives me a chance to stand up for the North East and to help shape the region. I believe in public service. I believe that public office is a trust and responsibility. Public office is not a piece of property to do with as you will.

"My strategy as regional minister has been to drive up the prosperity of the region, to achieve the levels of prosperity that are enjoyed in London and the South East of England. Since the start of the economic downturn I have focused my attention on bringing new jobs to the North East. The best way to combat unemployment is to create new jobs to replace the ones that have gone."

The regional role works both ways; it also means Nick Brown is the Government’s representative in the North East. Immediately he was appointed to the post in July 2007 he set out his priorities for getting the region moving, putting a major priority on jobs, skills, transport and efficient public services. He said that securing high-quality services on the East Coast rail route was a key concern and that high-quality links by air, sea, rail and road were crucial for the North East because of its distance from London. A deep-sea container base on Teesside was also on his list of vital schemes.

He has visited skills conferences, voluntary organisations, environmental groups and universities to make the case for how Government policy can work for them and also to make sure that where shortcomings are identified they are fed back to Government.

He says: "I have been closely involved with my colleagues in Government in getting the region through the redundancies at Northern Rock and Nissan and with Vera Baird the MP for Redcar in trying to find a way forward for Corus on Teesside. I have championed the North East bid for the new battery plant at Nissan and the creation of a whole new industry on the north bank of the Tyne based on offshore wind generation.

"We as a region have correctly decided our priorities. My role is to be the region’s foremost advocate for our priorities within government. It doesn’t hurt that I am also the Government chief whip. I get a great deal of help from my parliamentary colleagues and the region’s local authority leaders. The North East punches above its size at national level.

"I made it very clear when I was first appointed to the job that I wasn’t going to do it with a wish list in one hand and a begging bowl in the other. As a region we have to have a clear set of priorities and collectively present ourselves as rational partners for industry, commerce and central government."

Nick Brown was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, and studied at Manchester University After graduation in 1974 he worked for a short spell in the advertising department of Procter & Gamble in Newcastle. He then worked for a Newcastle dry-cleaning company (1976-78) and in the northern region of the General and Municipal Worker’s Union – as it then was – from 1978 to 1983, as research officer and later legal officer. He was first elected to Parliament in 1983 for Newcastle East, and has held the seat ever since. In 2001 he was awarded the freedom of the city of Newcastle; he is governor of Walker Technology College and a patron of Leeds Youth Opera – the country’s only youth opera run by volunteers.

As Chief Whip, he is responsible for managing the Government’s business and legislation in the House of Commons, and for making sure that the views of all Labour MPs are heard when Government decisions are being made.

His priority as Minister for the North East has been to get the region through the economic downturn. He has worked with the private sector and trade unions to ensure that people are able to keep their jobs and, where that has not been possible, has worked with Jobcentre Plus and other agencies to make sure people get back into work as soon as they can. The investments of the past decade in skills and training will make this more possible than it would otherwise have been.

Until the economic downturn, the North East had the highest growth rates of any English region. Nick Brown is determined not to let that progress go to waste.

"The North East is used to collaborative working and it is not difficult to get different people together to discuss a common problem," he says. "There is a lot going on in the region and I spend a fair bit of my time getting involved in the detail of specific projects. I believe that this is the only way to understand what is going on and to be able to effectively act as the North East’s champion within Government and more generally."

A regional select committee of MPs for the North East has been established in response to the drive for greater regional accountability and during their first meeting in Gateshead, the members quizzed regional business leaders on the Government’s response to the economic downturn. There was strong support for Nick Brown’s work.

Tony Sarginson, director of the Engineering Employers Federation, described the initiative as "refreshing" and said his energy had solved some issues and "knocked heads together".

Andrew Sugden, director of policy and representation at the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: "Certainly, people who are focused on the business environment at the moment have been very much on the front foot in the current crisis. We have seen, in the regional minister, somebody who is very clearly an advocate for the region and is very passionate about it."

Gordon Brown promises his Government will continue to listen, learn, reach out to people and engage with them. He talks of change, duty and trust. The MP is a long-term ally of the Prime Minister – and he knows how to make his voice heard.