UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to step down
 

London, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday he will step down as leader of his party after it was defeated in parliamentary elections last week.

"As leader of my party I must accept that that is a judgment on me," he said.

He is asking his Labour Party to begin preparations for a new leadership contest in which he will not be a candidate, he said. That effectively means he is on his way out as prime minister.

He said he hoped a new leader would be in place by the next party conference, which is scheduled for September.

The move may clear the way for a deal to keep his party in power after elections last week left no party with an absolute majority in parliament.

Brown said a Labour-Liberal Democrat alliance made sense, given the results of Thursday's vote.


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The Conservative Party joining up with the Liberal Democrat. That is going to be a very interesting coalition, since the two parties have little in common.

Yep. But it seems to have a lot to do with Cameron and Nick Clegg being able to get along.

Hmm interesting. But it makes sense considering that even if Labour and the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition it still would have been a minority government.

Does nobody care about this?

I do. I find it very interesting. I like the idea of Liberal Democratic-Conservative coalition in the government. Probably get the best ideas from both put into action. Hopefully, anyway.

It's interesting but this is the part of the British government that I find i understand best through the Daily Show's explanations. That and I had no real opinion about Brown, and no true understanding of how a coalition government will be run or how long it will last since it seems like you can call for elections on an irregular schedule in Britain.

Well the PM can dissolve parliament whenever he wants to. However a parliament can only be in session for 5 years maximum. Very rarely does it run the full five years though since it can be dissolved earlier. With a minority or coalition government, there is also a possibility of a motion of no confidence.


RU OX http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...agreement.html

That is their official agreement. Now I wonder how much of it will come true.

Thanks!

I think it will hold for a couple of years at least. I think the question of switching to euro anytime soon has been put to rest as Greece pretty much screwed that up.

A left/right coalition in the UK is really quite remarkable given the overall political sitiuation on the international level. I hope they take the good ideas from each party though, and not just nonsense parts.

Labor barely won any. Could the LDP be the new "other" party? That's what I find really interesting in this.

I just have to pick a nit here. :D

The Prime Minister can ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections whenever he wants to. But it's the Queen, not the PM, who can actually dissolve Parliament.

Good point MC. But in reality the Crown always dissolves Parliament when asked. The last time that he didn't was way back in 1923. If Elizabeth was asked to dissolve and she refused, it might cause a constitutional crisis.

I don't know RU OX how long this will last. As my friend said, it's a match made in hell. And some of the changes they want are huge, especially some of the political ones. I personally think that as soon as the Lib Dems get proportional representation, they are bailing. And Labour still did pretty well in the election, if not as well as the Conservatives. The Lib Dems are still the third party. If it wasn't for the fact that they still wouldn't have had a majority anyway, they would have joined with Labour instead.

Very true, and I was just gigging you a little. Nevertheless, there are protocols that must be followed, and I think we Americans tend to not fully appreciate the role the Crown has in government (the Queen-in-Parliament). My son and I were hearing the story on NPR about Brown resigning and a "new government" in the UK. The "new government" caught his ear, as it sounded to him like a new system of government. We discussed what it means in the British context, including how Brown didn't just resign, he submitted his resignation to the Queen, who on accepting it invited David Cameron to form a new government.

The decision to dissolve Parliament is the government's; the power to dissolve Parliament is the Crown's.

Actually MC there is one thing I was wondering. Clegg was appointed as both Deputy PM and Lord President of the Council. I know DPM has no de jure powers, but he might have a decent amount of de facto power over the rest of the cabinet. But what I do wonder, is how much power does the Lord President of the Council have? I know he leads the Privy Council and that the Cabinet is part of the Privy Council. However that is the limit of my knowledge of the Privy Council.


ETA: Also surprised you didn't take opportunity to rib me for calling George VI a Queen lol.

I new what you meant. :D

The Privy Council does have some power, but I'll have to read up on the Lord President.

Either way, it's still weird. Crazy Brits! Perhaps they should actually write up one of these here constitutions so they can keep things straight!

I caught MysticCat in a typo!

In truth, I follow the stories but my brain just glosses over the details when it comes to UK politics. Mostly I just know I'd like to have Question Time here, heckling and all. I used to watch Blair do that on C-SPAN all the time.