Jeremy Browne

Browne was the UK Government representative at the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.

Jeremy Richard Browne (born 17 May 1970) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Taunton Deane from 2005 to 2015.

He served as both Minister of State for Europe and the Americas and Minister of State for Crime Prevention.

He became Editor of the University Newspaper and was elected President of the Students' Union in 1992.

Browne became a researcher for the Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith in 1993.

He worked for financial-consultancy Dewe Rogerson and has also worked for public relations firms Edelman and Reputationinc.

He worked for the Liberal Democrats nationally and rose to be their Director of Press and Broadcasting under the leadership of Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy.

Browne was chosen by his Enfield local party branch to contest Enfield Southgate parliamentary constituency at the 1997 general election and followed the previous result for the party in achieving third position, behind Labour's Stephen Twigg who on that date ousted the Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Portillo in one of the most surprising landslide results.

Shortly after the 2001 general election Browne was chosen to contest the more winnable marginal seat of Taunton which had been gained by the Conservative Adrian Flook from the Liberal Democrat Jackie Ballard by just 235 votes.

The 2005 general election was again close in Taunton; however Browne beat the incumbent by 573 votes, against the national swing.

Following his election in 2005, Browne was appointed a spokesman on Foreign Affairs and as Member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

During the 2006 Liberal Democrat leadership campaign, Browne was campaign press secretary to Menzies Campbell.

He was later promoted to the Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team to become the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Home Affairs.

During the 2007 leadership election, he was a supporter of Nick Clegg and a member of his campaign team.

Browne became a vice president of the charity Parkinson's UK in 2007.

Browne is a supporter of Queens Park Rangers Football Club.

Browne is strongly associated with the Orange Book wing of the Liberal Democrats.

He is a classical liberal: a believer in free-market economics, free trade, low taxation, small government and individual empowerment.

At the same time he is both culturally and socially liberal.

In 2008, Browne became Lib Dem Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Browne presented a private member's bill entitled the Organ Donation (Presumed Consent) Bill 2008–09.

The Bill aimed to address the problem of a lack of organs available for transplant in the UK.

Over 1000 people a year die whilst on waiting lists for organs.

During the 2009 expenses scandal, Browne was initially asked to pay back £17,894 in mortgage payments by the Legg Report, after re-mortgaging his London home to provide a deposit for a constituency home.

He appealed this decision, making him the first MP to do so, and argued that he was being penalised for using his own money instead of claiming a greater amount from the taxpayer.

His appeal was successful, with Sir Paul Kennedy accepting that the arrangement cost the taxpayer less than the alternative options and saying that Browne had acted "openly and honestly, and for the very purpose for which ACA was established".

In the final report, Browne was not required to repay anything.

In 2010 after some boundary changes, Browne defended his renamed seat, Taunton Deane, with an increased majority of 3,993.

Following the 2010 general election as part of the new coalition government Browne was appointed Minister of State with the responsibility for South East Asia & Far East, Caribbean, Central & South America, Australasia & Pacific, human rights, consular, migration, drugs and international crime, public diplomacy and the Olympics at the Foreign Office.

In the government reshuffle of September 2012 he was appointed Minister of State for crime prevention and drug policy in the Home Office.

In the reshuffle of October 2013 he was returned to the back benches.

Browne confirmed that he had been approached by senior Tories, such as Grant Shapps, in the hope he might be persuaded to defect to the Conservative Party.

Interviewed about those who said he was in the wrong party, Browne said: "I'd turn that on its head. I'd say my ambition for the Lib Dems is to attract the small 'l' liberals in the Conservative and Labour parties.

On 15 October 2014, Browne announced that he would stand down at the next general election.

In 2014, following his years in the Foreign Office, he wrote a book called Race Plan: An authentic liberal plan to get Britain fit for "The Global Race".

In September 2015 Browne was appointed as a "Special Representative for the City of London Corporation" in the European Union, as part of the city's efforts to boost its presence in Brussels.

Browne left this role in August 2018.

In July 2022 Browne became Chief Executive of Canning House.

Born in Islington, Browne is the son of British diplomat Sir Nicholas Browne, and, as a child, lived in many different countries, including Iran, Zimbabwe, and Belgium.

Browne was educated at Bedales School, and the University of Nottingham where he studied politics.