Charles Brown interviewed by Richard Goldson

Oral history interview with Charles Brown, conducted and recorded by Richard Goldson at the interviewee's home in London on 13 June 2018. Duration: 1 hr. 39 min. 50 sec. Economist Policy Unit 1989; demand growth; first thoughts about privatisation; Bob Reid 1; Bob Reid 2 Radical Decentralisation privatisation model; privatisation work suspended 1989; Malcolm Rifkind; Infrastructure Separation model 1991; Privatisation Studies Unit set-up; British Railways Board (BRB) internal politics; White Paper; John Palmer; Designate Regulator; Designate Franchising Director; Railways Bill; secondment to Designate Rail Regulator; Railtrack regulation; John Swift QC; government objectives; trade unions; financial objectives; reflections on privatisation; passenger demand growth

One of over 150 oral history recordings made as part of the Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) archive project. BRAC was set-up to cover gaps in documenting the railway privatisation process in the United Kingdom, between 1994 and 1997, when the government-owned British Rail was dismantled into over 100 privately-owned companies. The interviews capture the recollections of people involved in the planning and implementation of the privatisation process, the management of change and running the railway during privatisation.