The gripping inside story of the complex and ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer's time in power. Gordon Brown's arrival at the Treasury in May 1997 was greeted by a stampede--officials of every rank spontaneously rushed to the door to cheer the new incumbent, excited about the change. As Master of the New Era, Brown created a matrix of relationships across every Whitehall department, and extended his influence to every aspect of government activity. He has been behind the most important budgetary decisions of the past decade: the commitment to Private Finance Initiative, which would affect infrastructure from the London Underground to the NHS to state schools; the management of the Inland Revenue; the increase in taxes; and the demise of Britain's pension funds. Seven years after his arrival at the most powerful department at Whitehall, Brown is now a contender to be the next leader of the Labour Party, but despite extensive newspaper coverage of his activities, his personal agenda has not yet been investigated and described. In this gripping biography of the Chancellor, Tom Bower--author of the best-selling Broken Dreams--documents the rise to power of a driven and complex politician, exposing conflicts within the government and exploring how the repercussions of Brown's ambitions will affect the country for decades to come.