Michael Brown (British politician)

Michael Russell Brown (b. 3 July, 1951) is a British former Conservative politician and is now a newspaper and broadcast political journalist.

Brown was educated at the Andrew Cairns Secondary Modern School, Sussex, and the University of York, later studying for a year at the Middle Temple. He worked as a graduate management trainee for Barclays Bank from 1972 to 1974 then as a lecturer and tutor at Swinton Conservative College from 1974 to 1975. From 1975 to 1976 he was a part-time research assistant to Michael Marshall MP, working for Nicholas Winterton MP from 1976 to 1979.

Brown was selected for the marginal constituency of Brigg and Scunthorpe and was unexpectedly elected at the 1979 general election. In 1983 he was elected for the new seat of Brigg and Cleethorpes. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Douglas Hogg, Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry, from 1989 to 1990, and then at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1990 to 1992. From 1992 to 1993 he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Patrick Mayhew, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He was appointed as an Assistant Government Whip in 1993.

Brown was the first openly gay Conservative MP following his 'outing' by the News of the World in 1994. The story showed Brown on holiday in Barbados with a 20-year-old man at a time when the age of consent for gay sex was 21, and the News of the World's headline read "lawmaker is lawbreaker". Brown resigned as a junior government whip but the story nevertheless ran on for some time, at a period when the Major government was embroiled in a series of sex and financial scandals. He was also tarnished by his involvement in the 'cash for questions' allegations.

Brown lost the election for the new Cleethorpes seat at the general election on 1 May, 1997. Initially he struggled to find employment but began to write political commentary for various newspapers. He is now a political columnist for the Independent and regularly appears as a commentator and newspaper reviewer on British television, particularly BBC News 24.