Politician and lawyer. Born in Kilwinning (North Ayrshire), his father worked at the ICI factory at Ardeer. Browne was educated at St. Michael's Academy in Kilwinning and then read law at the University of Glasgow. He worked as a solicitor in Glasgow, setting up his own firm (McCluskey Browne) in Kilmarnock in 1985. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1993, practising until 1997. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun in 1997, representing the Labour Party. He served in the governments of Tony Blair (b.1953) and then Gordon Brown (b.1951) as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2001-03), Minister of State for Work & Pensions (2003-04), Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter-Terrorism (2004-05), Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2005-06), Secretary of State for Defence (2006-08) and Secretary of State for Scotland (2007-08). He retired from Parliament in 2010 and was raised to the peerage as Lord Browne of Ladyton the same year. Thereafter he has worked for organisations focused on international nuclear disarmament
