Anthony Browne (politician)

Anthony Howe Browne (born 19 January 1967) is a British politician who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire since the 2019 general election.[1]

Anthony Browne

MP
Browne in 2019
Member of Parliament
for South Cambridgeshire
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byHeidi Allen
Majority2,904 (4.3%)
Personal details
Born
Anthony Howe Browne

(1967-01-19) 19 January 1967
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
EducationThe Perse School
Hills Road Sixth Form College
Alma materTrinity Hall, Cambridge
Websiteanthonybrowne.org

Browne was previously a journalist at The Times, BBC and The Observer; an adviser to Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London; chief executive of the British Bankers' Association and chairman of the UK Government's Regulatory Policy Committee.[2] He sat on the Boards of the International Banking Federation, the European Banking Federation and TheCityUK, and a range of financial technology companies.[3][4][5]

Early life

Browne was born in Mill Road Maternity Hospital in Cambridge. On his mother's side his family is from Norway; on his father's side he is descended from the 2nd Marquess of Sligo.[6] He went to Fowlmere Primary School, The Perse School and Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, and then studied mathematics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.[7]

Career

Journalism

Browne began his career as a journalist. He was business reporter and economics correspondent for the BBC (1993–1998); economics correspondent, health editor and environment correspondent for the Observer newspaper (1998–2002); and environment editor, Europe correspondent, and chief political correspondent for The Times (2002–2007). When Europe correspondent for The Times, he covered the enlargement of the EU to Eastern Europe, and the appointment of Peter Mandelson as European Commissioner. He also reported for The Times from Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Browne was a columnist for City AM[8] and one of the founding columnists of the website ConservativeHome.[9]

As Environment Editor of the Observer, Browne broke the exclusive that 1999 was the hottest year of the second millennium.[10]

In 2000 Browne reported for the Observer from the North Coast of Alaska on the attempts by oil companies to develop the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and the impact that had on the Gwich'in Tribe.[11]

Browne was in New York on 11 September 2001, and covered the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers for the Guardian and the Observer.[12][13] A podcast he did for the Guardian was used by the director Oliver Stone in his 2006 film World Trade Center, starring Nicolas Cage, in which Browne gets a final credit.

In 2002, when Health Editor of the Observer, Browne co-authored a report titled NHS Reform: towards consensus? for the Adam Smith Institute[14], which was serialised in the Guardian newspaper.[15] It urged greater funding for the NHS and to retain the principle that it should be free for users, but that the NHS should adopt the practices common in the German, French and Belgian health services.

Browne revealed in 2003 that immigration from Africa had become the main cause of new HIV infections in the UK.[16] The Public Health Laboratory Service said "this is a crisis that needs to be tackled."[17] Lord Turnburg, the former Chairman of the Public Health Laboratory Service, and Lord Walton, former president of the BMA and General Medical Council, called for the UK to follow the US, Canada and Australia by introducing HIV and TB tests for immigrants.[18] The UK Government set up an Imported Infection and Immigration Working Group, which introduced stricter immigration controls to combat imported infections, but did not recommend mandatory Canadian-style tests.

In 2004, Browne broke the story in the Times of the government welcoming to the UK Yusuf al Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who had called for the execution of all Jews and homosexuals.[19] The government subsequently banned al Qaradawi from visiting the UK.

In 2011 Browne wrote a blog on the ConservativeHome website titled "Why we shouldn't leave the EU".[20] Browne argued against a referendum on British membership of the EU, and said that "disentangling from the EU would be a hideous set of complex negotiations across pretty much the entire range of government functions."

Think tanks

Browne was Director of Policy Exchange, the largest centre-right think tank in the UK, where he succeeded the founding director Nick Boles. He ran Policy Exchange for eighteen months, during which time it doubled in size, but attracted criticism that it came too close to Conservative leader David Cameron.[21]

Browne has written and contributed to various publications, including a book on whether Britain should join the European single currency, which entered the Sunday Times best-seller list; a pamphlet published by Civitas: The Institute for the Study of Civil Society discussing mass immigration which won Prospect magazine's think tank publication of the year award in 2003; and a Joseph Rowntree Foundation book on social evils; and a report for the think tank Open Europe supporting subsidiarity in the EU.

Politics

Browne was Policy Director for Economic Development for Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London,[22] in charge of economic and business policy for London, sitting on the board of the London Development Agency,[23] and as an observer on the boards of the London Skills and Employment Board, and TheCityUK, which represents UK financial services. He was also chairman of the Mayor's Digital Advisory Board.

On Saturday 20 July 2019, Browne was announced as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire.[1] In an interview with the Cambridge Independent on 24 July 2019 to discuss his selection, Browne sought to distance himself from the views he had expressed as a journalist, when he claimed in the Spectator that third world immigrants bring germs into the country.[24] When asked about the statements, he said "I went through a phase as a young journalist trying to get attention and it is not language I would use now. I regret saying it."

Browne was elected as member for South Cambridgeshire in December 2019 with a majority of 2,904.[25] He was later elected as a member of the Treasury Select Committee and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group of the Environment in 2020.[26]

Lobbyist

After working for Boris Johnson, Browne became Morgan Stanley's head of government relations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.[27]

On 1 September 2012, he left Morgan Stanley to become head of the British Bankers' Association.

British Bankers' Association

Browne was appointed to the BBA in June 2012, two weeks before the LIBOR scandal broke. Marcus Agius, the chairman of the BBA who appointed Browne, promptly resigned.[28] Shortly after Browne was appointed, the Daily Mail declared he was "the man who must clean up British banks".[29]

Browne was responsible for implementing reforms of LIBOR proposed by a review lead by Martin Wheatley, the then head of the Financial Conduct Authority.[30][31] Browne then worked with a government-appointed tendering committee chaired by Baroness Hogg to transfer operation of LIBOR from the BBA.[32] Responsibility for the operation of LIBOR was transferred from the BBA to NYSE Euronext in January 2014.[33] As part of the ensuing Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, chaired by Andrew Tyrie, Browne co-ordinated the industry to establish the Banking Standards Board.

Browne also set up the BBA's first Consumer Panel.[34] In the wake of the 2016 referendum on Brexit, Browne famously warned, in a controversial piece in The Observer newspaper, that British-based banks were about to relocate operations to the EU, with their hands "quivering over the relocate button".[35]

In April 2017, he announced he was stepping down after five years as CEO, when the BBA merged with five other trade associations to form UK Finance.[36][37]

Major publications
gollark: It's not very effective on short input to cheat anyway.
gollark: I didn't even have to blatantly cheat!
gollark: Those are a terrible metric for anything.
gollark: How do you PORTRAY cosmic rays?
gollark: I can type 100WPM or so, so that will involve a lot of endless items.

References
  2. "Anthony Browne appointed to the Regulatory Policy Committee". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  3. "Anthony Browne joins Coconut board". specialistbanking.co.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  4. "Revealed: Former British Bankers' Association chief executive Anthony Browne to join board of Unmortgage, a start-up aiming to overcome 'deposit barrier' to full home ownership; company will also announce £10m fundraising tomorrow". Twitter. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  5. "Board of Directors – TheCityUK". www.thecityuk.com.
  6. "Person Page - 3472". The Peerage. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  7. "Meet South Cambs MP Anthony Browne: Shot at by the Americans and credited on Oliver Stone film". Cambridge Independent. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  8. "Anthony Browne". City A.M. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  9. "Anthony Browne". Conservative Home. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  10. Browne, Anthony; Correspondent, Environment (14 November 1999). "1999 the hottest year of the millennium". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  11. Browne, Anthony (19 August 2000). "Britain's oilmen trample on last great wilderness". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  12. Vulliamy, Ed; Burke, Anthony Browne Jason; Beaumont, Peter; Bright, Martin; London, Kamal Ahmed in; Boston, Paul Simon in; Islamabad, Luke Harding in; Berlin, Kate Connolly in; Brussels, and Andrew Osborn in (16 September 2001). "When our world changed forever". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  13. Browne, Anthony; York, New (23 September 2001). "The survivors who search for solace". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  14. NHS Reform: towards consensus.
  15. Browne, Anthony (7 April 2002). "Anthony Browne: How to build a health service that works". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  16. Browne, By Anthony (18 August 2003). "Africa is main source of new HIV cases in Britain". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  17. Browne, By Oliver Wright and Anthony (13 February 2003). "Experts alarmed at new surge of HIV in Britain". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  18. Browne, By Anthony (13 December 2002). "Call for TB and HIV tests on all immigrants". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  19. browne, anthony (6 July 2004). "Anti Jewish? Anti gay? Welcome to Britain". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  20. "Anthony Browne: Why we shouldn't leave the EU". Conservative Home.
  21. Anthony Browne leaves Policy Exchange to become Boris Johnson's Policy Director ConservativeHome
  22. "Advisors". Mayor of London. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  23. London Development Agency board members Archived July 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  24. Spencer, Alex (24 July 2019). "Parliamentary candidate has backing of new Prime Minister". www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  25. South Cambridgeshire District Council
  26. "I am honoured to have been elected chair of the All Party Parliamentary Environment Group. I look forward to helping drive forwards environmental issues". Twitter. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  27. "Appointment of Anthony Browne as Chief Executive of the British Bankers' Association". British Bankers' Association. 12 June 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  28. "Marcus Agius tenders resignation as BBA chairman". 2 July 2012 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  29. Brummer, Alex (6 February 2013). "Anthony Browne, the man who must clean up British banks". This is Money. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  30. "Libor 'cannot continue unchanged'". 10 August 2012 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  31. Browne, Anthony (11 July 2013). "Libor now has a new administrator – but our reforms have gone much further". www.cityam.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  32. "Government announces LIBOR administrator tendering committee". GOV.UK. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  33. "NYSE Euronext to control Libor rate". BBC News. 9 July 2013 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  34. "Citizens Advice Chief To Head Banking Panel". Sky News.
  35. editor, Daniel Boffey Observer policy (22 October 2016). "Brexit: leading banks set to pull out of UK early next year" – via www.theguardian.com.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  36. "Browne to quit role as UK's top bank lobbyist". Sky News.
  37. Earl, Nicholas (14 September 2018). "Russia may allow UK to interview Novichok suspects". www.cityam.com.
  38. "Open Europe" (PDF). archive.openeurope.org.uk. 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Heidi Allen		 Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire
2019–present		 Incumbent
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