David Cameron is UK's new prime minister

[smokerjim]

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Conservative leader David Cameron is the new UK prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.

Mr Cameron, 43, is in Downing Street after travelling to Buckingham Palace to formally accept the Queen's request to form the next government.

He said he aimed to form a "proper and full coalition" with the Lib Dems to provide "strong, stable government".

His party won the most seats in the UK general election last week, but not an overall majority.

In a speech at Downing Street, Mr Cameron said he and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg would "put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and the national interest".

He paid tribute to outgoing PM Gordon Brown for his long years of public service and said he would tackle Britain's "pressing problems" - the deficit, social problems and reforming the political system.

Mr Cameron stressed there would be "difficult decisions" but said he wanted to take people through them to reach "better times ahead".

The Conservatives have been in days of negotiations with the Lib Dems - who were also negotiating with Labour - after the UK election resulted in a hung parliament.

But the Lib Dems said talks with Labour failed because "the Labour Party never took seriously the prospects of forming a progressive, reforming government".

Formal agreement

A spokesman said key members of the Labour team "gave every impression of wanting the process to fail" and the party had made "no attempt at all" to agree a common approach on issues like schools funding and tax reform.

"Certain key Labour cabinet ministers were determined to undermine any agreement by holding out on policy issues and suggesting that Labour would not deliver on proportional representation and might not marshal the votes to secure even the most modest form of electoral reform," he said.



I loved the job not for its prestige, its titles and its ceremony - which I do not love at all. No, I loved the job for its potential to make this country I love fairer

Gordon Brown


Brown resigns as prime minister
Gordon Brown's rise and fall
The David Cameron story
However Labour's Lord Mandelson told the BBC they had been "up for" a deal with the Lib Dems, but they had "created so many barriers and obstacles that perhaps they thought their interests lay on the Tory side, on the Conservative side, rather than the progressive side".

After it became clear the talks had failed, Mr Brown tendered his resignation and said he wished the next prime minister well.

In an emotional resignation statement outside Number Ten, Mr Brown thanked his staff, his wife Sarah and their children, who joined the couple as they left for Buckingham Palace.

Mr Brown said it had been "a privilege to serve" adding: "I loved the job not for its prestige, its titles and its ceremony - which I do not love at all. No, I loved the job for its potential to make this country I love fairer, more tolerant, more green, more democratic, more prosperous and more just - truly a greater Britain."

'My fault'

He also paid tribute to the courage of the armed forces, adding: "I will never forget all those who have died in honour and whose families today live in grief."

Later he thanked Labour activists and MPs for all their efforts and told them Labour's general election performance was "my fault, and my fault alone".

The Lib Dem and Conservative teams met for hours of negotiations at the Cabinet Office on Tuesday - four days after the UK general election resulted in a hung parliament.

The talks resumed after Lib Dem negotiators met a Labour team, which followed Mr Brown's announcement on Monday that he would step down as Labour leader by September.

But there were signs throughout the afternoon that the two parties - who together would still not command an overall majority in the House of Commons - would not reach a deal.

Several senior Labour figures, including John Reid and David Blunkett, warned against a coalition with the Lib Dems, particularly if the price involved offering them a referendum on changing the voting system to proportional representation.

After Mr Brown announced he would be stepping down and would see if Labour could do a deal with the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives upped their offer to a promise of a referendum on changing the voting system from existing first past the post system to AV.

[mazza111]

God help any of us north of the Border. I only hope that those lib dem supporters in Scotland, remember who lib dems went along with at the next election.

[BELIAL]

God help any of us north of the Border. I only hope that those lib dem supporters in Scotland, remember who lib dems went along with at the next election.

They will. Lib Dems are over/finished as a party. You gotta ask how? and Who slipped Clag passed the membership,after all ,the Trojan horse is hardly a new concept

[Broxi51]

Give it a year and then the Lib Dems will pull out of the coalition and a general election will be called. Labour without Brown and Mandelson will storm home.

[eian687]

FUNNY HOW THOSE WHO CAME 3RD GET SUCH A STRONG VOICE IN GOVT.
WE ARE DOOMED

[BELIAL]

FUNNY HOW THOSE WHO CAME 3RD GET SUCH A STRONG VOICE IN GOVT.
WE ARE DOOMED

Even funnier how all the privileged dick heads who support the system that fleeced the taxpayers of £800,000,000 overnight, never even got questioned

[treadhead]

Give it a year and then the Lib Dems will pull out of the coalition and a general election will be called. Labour without Brown and Mandelson will storm home.

Yep I agree Torys and lib Dems will never work out. question is is New Labour dead will we get a Labour party that represents us again or are we going to get more of the same with who ever takes over?.

[smokerjim]

FUNNY HOW THOSE WHO CAME 3RD GET SUCH A STRONG VOICE IN GOVT.
WE ARE DOOMED

Even funnier how all the privileged dick heads who support the system that fleeced the taxpayers of £800,000,000 overnight, never even got questioned

Yep - try bending the truth to get sick or jobseeker's benefits while at work = repayment of the defrauded public funds and a few months chokey, try bending the truth to milk the expenses system while at Westminster = possibly be publically humilliated / forced out of office & do pass GO, do collect £65k leaving bonus, do keep MP's pension and DON'T go to jail

[smokerjim]

Give it a year and then the Lib Dems will pull out of the coalition and a general election will be called. Labour without Brown and Mandelson will storm home.

Yep I agree Torys and lib Dems will never work out. question is is New Labour dead will we get a Labour party that represents us again or are we going to get more of the same with who ever takes over?.

After the Gov'nor of the Bank of England said that whoever wins the election and turns around the deficit ( through enormous public spending cuts ) will become so unpopular that they will be out of power for a generation ( 25+ years ), who would want to take a sip from that poison chalice?.....apart from the arrogant, vacuous, life in-experienced, power hungry bastards that like having the letters "MP" after their name

[maisymoo04]

get ready to start wearing those orange TNT uniforms folks

[mazza111]

sexeh!!! I look good in orange. Will privatisation offer voluntary redundancy tho? Am hoping so tbh :)

[maisymoo04]

haha nice one mazza so you hate the job that bad then

[bitchface]

wow doom and gloom merchants...or is that labour voters speaking....selective memories and no shame...who f****d up your pensions ,whos been trying to privatise you for 13 years and who has given this country the worst debt mountain since the war.LIEBOUR....I CAN ONLY THINK OF ONE POSITIVE THING THEY HAVE ACHIEVED AND THATS THE MINIMUM WAGE..GOOD RIDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH.THEY OUT TORIED THE TORIES BUT STILL BECAUSE THEY CALLED THEMSELVES LABOUR YOU ALL VOTED FOR THEM....HANG YOUR HEADS

[mazza111]

haha nice one mazza so you hate the job that bad then

I actually love the job. But hate all the BS that goes with it. The bullying people who are in supervisory/management roles. The customers who tar us all with the one brush when one postie goes bad. The union who have shafted us.

And yes, I was just home from dentist when I wrote the post earlier :)

But orange does make ure tan look even healthier, unless you're faking it, Then it makes it look like your father was a wotsit :)

[mazza111]

Bitchface, they may not have got everything right, no one is saying they have. But just watch this space...

And no I won't hang my head in shame for fighting for what I believe in. That sure as hell isn't to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, thnx and goodnight