Political History
He was elected as a branch chairman within the Transport and General Workers Union 1979-1985. In 1986 he was elected as a councillor to the Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council, and was the Labour Group Leader 1995-1997, Between 1988 and 1996 he also served as a councillor on the Annandale and Eskdale District Council.
He was selected to contest the seemingly safe Conservative and Unionist seat of Dumfries at the 1997 UK General Election. The MP of 33 years, Hector Monro retired and the Conservative and Unionist candidate was Struan Stevenson. The Conservative Party was completely wiped out in Scotland in 1997, and Russell Brown was elected as the Labour MP for Dumfries with a majority of 9,643, and has remained an MP since. He made his maiden speech on 7 July 1997.
Russell Brown became a Member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee in 1999, and left the committee after the 2001 General Election. He was made a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords Gareth Wyn Williams in 2002. When Williams died in 2003 and he continued in the same position with his successor Valerie Amos. In the major redistribution of Scottish seats, his constituency of Dumfries was abolished and the new seat of Dumfries and Galloway was created. At the 2005 General Election he faced the sitting Conservative MP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Peter Duncan. Brown was elected with a majority of 2,922. Following the election he became the PPS to the Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Darling and his successor Jim Murphy.
In the 2010 General Election Russell Brown was again challenged by Conservative Peter Duncan, who is now a councillor on Dumfries and Galloway Council. Despite Labour losing the election nationally, Russell Brown's local popularity meant he almost tripled his majority to 7,449.
In October 2010 Russell Brown was appointed to Labour's front bench as a Shadow Defence Minister. His brief is Shadow Minister for International Security Strategy.
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