Former Defence Secretary Des Browne -- Meeting with Staff and Students PGTs and PGRs only

Des Browne was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May 2005. A year later he became Defence Secretary in succession to John Reid.

He was previously Minister of State for Citizenship and Immigration at the Home Office.

Mr Browne has also been Minister of State for Work at the Department for Work and Pensions and also held the position of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at The Northern Ireland Office.

Mr Browne has been MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 1997 and was previously Parliamentary Private Secretary to the late Donald Dewar MP 1998-1999 and more recently to Adam Ingram MP.

He is a former member of Select Committees on Northern Ireland 1997-1998 and Public Administration 1999 and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights 2001.

Mr Browne also tabled the Register of Drug Trafficking Offenders Bill, a private Member's Bill to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act to establish a register of trafficking offenders.

Mr Browne was born on 22 March 1952 and studied at Glasgow University where he was awarded an LLB. He is married and has two sons. Before entering Parliament he was a lawyer, he was admitted as a solicitor in 1976 and was subsequently called to the Scottish Bar in 1993.