In the 1994 Labour leadership election, he supported Gordon Brown and acted as his unofficial campaign manager and, according to biographer Paul Routledge, advised against his withdrawing from the contest in Blair's favour.

In 1995, Brown was appointed as Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons and played a central role in Parliament in trying to defeat the Conservative government's parliamentary agenda.

Following Labour's election victory in 1997, he was appointed as Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons, but stayed there only for just over a year, to then be moved to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Tony Blair's first ministerial shuffle in July 1998.

This change, which followed the publication of the Routledge biography earlier that year, was widely seen as a demotion, and ascribed to his close connection with Gordon Brown.

Suggestions that a vaccination strategy should have been practised in preference to the culling of hundreds of thousands of animals, made with the benefit of hindsight, did not help his cause, and he was demoted to Minister of State for Work, with non-voting Cabinet rank, after the general election of 2001.

The claim included £4,800 for food – the maximum allowable amount – £2,880 for repairs and insurance, £2,880 for services, £897.65 for cleaning, £1,640 for phones and £1,810 for utilities.

Brown, however, has said that he saved the taxpayer a considerable amount of money by turning down a Government car and driver upon being made Chief Whip, the annual cost of which would have been around £100,000.

[4] On 29 September 2010, newly elected Labour Party leader Ed Miliband asked Brown to stand down as Chief Whip due to the need for a "break from the past".

"[6] In 2014, Brown publicly opposed his party's proposal to scrap the position of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), citing the effectiveness of the three PCCs in North East England at the time.

[13] Brown is a holder of the freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne award,[1] a supporter of Humanists UK, a member of GMB,[15] and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

He is a governor of Walker Riverside Academy, a patron of Leeds Youth Opera and a trustee of the Biscuit Factory art exhibition in Shieldfield, Newcastle.