TSR best (post-war) PM tournament: SF2: Brown v Wilson

James Gordon Brown was MP for Dunfermline East and later Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 1983 to 2015. He held various shadow cabinet posts, including shadow chancellor under John Smith and then Tony Blair, having allegedly stood aside to allow Blair to become Labour leader following Smith's sudden death in 1994, on the understanding that Blair would eventually stand down and hand over to him. Brown was one of the architects of New Labour in the mid-90s, and became chancellor in 1997. The often frosty dynamic between Brown and Blair and their supporters dominated Blair's premiership until he resigned in 2007 and made way for Brown. Brown entered office without much of a unique plan for government, but soon found a purpose as the global financial crisis bit. Although Brown played a leading international role in calming matters, the public did not necessarily see it that way, and the opposition managed to accuse Brown and Labour of crashing the economy themselves. Brown only fought one election as PM, in 2010: this produced a hung parliament, but with Labour clearly in second place, so when the Conservatives and Lib Dems agreed a coalition, Brown resigned as PM and Labour leader.

James Harold Wilson was MP for Ormskirk and then Huyton in Lancashire from 1945 to 1983. He first joined Clement Attlee's cabinet in 1947 as president of the Board of Trade until Labour lost the 1951 election. In 1955 Wilson became shadow chancellor, then shadow foreign secretary in 1961, under leader of the opposition Hugh Gaitskell. Gaitskell died in office in 1963, and Wilson assumed the leadership of the party, winning the 1964 election narrowly against a tired Conservative government on its fourth PM, then winning a much bigger majority in 1966 in a snap election. This first period of Wilson government saw a variety of social reforms, including the legalisation of homosexuality, liberalisation of divorce, abortion and contraception laws and abolishing the death penalty. Wilson lost the 1970 election to Edward Heath, but stayed on as Labour leader and regained power in two elections in 1974, first in a hung parliament in February and then a very small majority in October. This makes Wilson the most recent PM to serve two separate periods in office. WIlson held a referendum on European Community membership in 1975, and eventually resigned amid ill health in 197t6, being replaced by James Callaghan.