how much gold did gordon brown sell
Gordon Brown authorised the sale of just over half of the UK’s gold reserves between 1999 and 2002, amounting to roughly 395–401 tonnes of gold (about 11.5–12.9 million troy ounces).
Quick Scoop
- The UK sold around 395–401 tonnes of gold under Gordon Brown’s chancellorship.
- This was a bit more than half of Britain’s total gold reserves at the time (often quoted as about 56%).
- The average sale price was about 275–276 US dollars per troy ounce , when gold was near a multi-decade low.
- The total proceeds were roughly 3.5 billion US dollars (about £2.3 billion at the time).
Why people still talk about it
Commentators often call this one of the UK’s most expensive financial mistakes because gold prices later surged, meaning the gold sold would now be worth many times more (tens of billions of pounds or tens of billions of dollars in notional missed value).
Mini timeline
- 1999 – Brown announces the plan to sell a large chunk of the UK’s gold reserves.
- 1999–2002 – A series of auctions gradually sell about 395–401 tonnes.
- After 2002 – Gold enters a long bull run, making the decision look worse with each passing year.
Different viewpoints
- Critics say it was a historic blunder, arguing that selling near the bottom of the market destroyed long‑term national wealth.
- Defenders argue the aim was to diversify reserves away from gold into other assets and currencies, which were expected to perform better at the time.
Simple numeric snapshot
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Gold sold | ≈395–401 tonnes | [1][5][7][9]
| Share of UK reserves | About 50–56% of total holdings then | [5][7][1]
| Total ounces | ≈11.5 million troy ounces (for 395 tonnes) | [3]
| Average sale price | ≈275–276 USD per ounce | [3][7][1][5]
| Money raised at the time | ≈3.5 billion USD (≈£2.3 billion) | [1][3][5]
