Sir Tristan Brown

[Brown]

Name: Sir Tristan Brown

Avatar: David Gandy

Age: 42 (Born March 6th, 1965)

Sex: Male

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Marital Status: Single

Religion: Anglican

Sexual Orientation: Homosexual (Out privately, but not publicly–can be considered an “open secret”)

Party: Labour

Political Outlook: Blairite, but at the very left of the Blairites. Essentially a soft-leftist who wants Labour to be electable, and feels that the best path to Government is to embrace Blair's more moderate principles, but push them more towards the left while maintaining electability.

Constituency: Oldham East and Saddleworth

Year Elected: 2005

Education: Bachelors in Engineering, Masters in Social Studies, Doctorate in British History

Career: Engineer (United Utilities, assigned primarily to the reservoirs in the Greenfield Area) (1988-1992)

Research Assistant (History/Archival Studies) (1992-1995)

Adjunct Professor of English History, University of Manchester (1995-2000)

Political Career: Saddleworth Parish Councilor (1990-1994), Oldham Borough Councilor (1994-2000), Leader of the Oldham Borough Councilor & Representative to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (2000-2004), MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth

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Sir Tristan Brown was born to two hippie parents living their best life in the mid 60-s. Both of his parents lived a nomadic lifestyle, referring to themselves as “Gypsies” even though they were not members of the Roma community. Tristan lived in various caravans traveling all throughout the English countryside. Through this transitory life, Tristan encountered a variety of interesting people from different backgrounds, and learned to appreciate the variety of cultures and history throughout the British Isles and beyond. His parents encouraged his interests however they could with their meager earnings, mostly obtained through art, performance, and tarot readings, buying him books as often as they could to continue to fuel his never ending thirst for knowledge.

Tristan fell in particular love with the Greenfield area, in particular the beautiful reservoirs in the area that inspired his love for Engineering which he frequently sketched, along with the curious rock formations of the “Druids Stone” (sometimes called the “Pots and Pans”) and immediately fell in love with the interesting quirky history of the local area, and its natural beauty. 

After finishing schooling, Tristan knew he was not called to the nomadic lifestyle of his parents, and resolved to enter engineering school to try and find a practical way to enjoin his love of art with a profitable career. While Tristan enjoyed engineering school, he never gave up his love for history, and minored in it during his studies. Following his graduation, he applied for and was accepted as an engineer, working to maintain the three reservoirs that captured his imagination during his childhood in the Greenfield-Uppermill area, bringing him a steady income to support himself, his family, and his interests.

Tristan fell in love with the local area and his love of history ensured that he inquired about the local history, quickly gaining the admiration of the elders of the community, especially the ladies, with whom he was particularly popular. Tristan realized that the area had so much rich history that was not being recorded except orally. He took it upon himself, with the help of his friends, to revive the languishing Saddleworth Historical Society to ensure that the community’s rich history remained accessible to current and future members of the community–and those who wanted to learn more about the area’s past. 

Tristan became a quick favourite in the local community, and was persuaded to stand for Saddleworth Parish Council where he was elected with a resounding majority. Tristan put his soul into dedicating himself to all of the Parish’s “little issues”, and acquitted himself well with the community with his duties.

Around this time, his parents, growing older, encountered difficulty accessing social care with their nomadic lifestyle, and increasingly found that they encountered prejudicial laws in certain localities, and had difficulty accessing health care. Tristan was enraged about this, but could do little to help them beyond providing funding and offering them a stable place to stay, which they always turned down. Their wandering souls simply could not settle down. Tristan resolved at this point to do all he could, however he could, to ensure that his family’s well being remained strong–and that these systemic challenges would be addressed in the future. He could do little, however, except advocate on the parish council for greater understanding for nomadic persons.

Eventually, Tristan decided to put his name forward for the Oldham Borough Council where he was elected to the higher tier of local government. Tristan pushed strongly to reform the beleaguered council’s priorities, and to clean up the inefficiencies that had been tolerated on the council for years. To his surprise, he found allies on most of the council, and was able to work with them to achieve several notable successes, such as devolving greater funding to districts, and strengthening the power of local parish councils, adopting the mentality of “The Parish Council knows better how to use these funds than we.” 

This approach, while with its controversy and detractors, bore fruit, resulting in a near 50% reduction in families living involuntarily in temporary accommodation, creating greater access and awareness about social care programmes, doubling the number of drug users in active treatment, increasing available affordable housing, and winning several awards for its parks and commitment to environmental stewardship. These successes saw Tristan elevated to Leader of the Borough Council and de facto representative to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). A year after his election as leader, the Oldham Borough Council won the title of “Most Improved Council of the Year” in the Local Government Chronicle awards. During his final term in office, Tristan would win the title of “Leader of the Year”.

Seeking to turn back to his studies of history, and feeling as if he had accomplished all he had set out to achieve, Tristan decided to stand down from the Borough Council following the completion of his term in office. His respite was not to last, however. One day, sketching out for the 100th time an interpretation of the Druids Stone on top of Alderman’s Hill, he was approached by the Chairman of the local Labour Party who asked him to consider standing for election as MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth. While Tristan initially resisted, the Chairman indicated his belief that he could do more good on a national level in Westminster than he had locally. After much thought, and considering how his contributions had been limited to his local community, he decided to accept, and was duly selected as the Labour Candidate, winning his first election in 2005.

In Parliament, Tristan has been a vocal backbencher and a devoted constituency MP who always ensures that his local constituency interests are addressed as best as he is able. Sitting on the soft-left of the party, he has had an uneasy alliance with the Blairites. While his pushes for greater social care, social safety, and “soft socialism” have often been rebuffed, he believes that, through patience, he can push the Blairites more towards the left while maintaining electability. To many on the hard left, he is viewed with disdain and as a “traitor”, with many wondering how someone who professes to be on the left could support someone “like Blair”. After 3 years in Parliament and largely supporting Mr. Blair, Tristan was surprised to find his name on Tony Blair’s Resignation Honours List. Tristan was now “Sir Tristan”, an honour he never sought, but nevertheless accepted. To many on the far left, this codified their belief that he had betrayed his principles in pursuit of a knighthood.

After Blair’s resignation, Sir Tristan has continued to largely support Gordon Brown’s policies, though Labour’s last electoral performance has made him as of late reconsider his view. His pragmatic principles of trying to have “as left-wing of a Government as possible while being electable” has been called into question, given that Blair’s message–continued by Brown, has not resonated with the British people. Sir Tristan continues to put a great deal of thought about if Blairite thinking is really the way forward–or if a variation–or indeed, a complete transformation–is required to find Labour once again in Government to help his community, his family, and the people of the United Kingdom.

(More flavour bio details may follow)

[Brown]

Regrettably, I need to sign out as my calendar is absolutely crazy and packed for the next month. I can not do this character justice. I will sign back into the game when my calendar stabalizes again.