Gordon Brown to Step Down; British Government Up For Grabs

Just when you thought you knew where the British elections were headed, things took another wild swerve. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is stepping down as party leader and the Liberal Democrats have opened up talks with the Labour Party.

At approximately 5 p.m. GMT, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he would be stepping down as leader of the Labour Party. The announcement followed a tumultuous day in British politics in an election that after four days has yet to yield a new government.

Earlier in the day, the Conservative and the Liberal Democratic parties looked poised for some sort of partnership. But, as predicted by many, the deal that Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg had carefully ironed out with Conservative leader David Cameron did not pass muster with Lib Dem parliamentarians. The sticking point was the absence of a firm commitment to electoral reform on the part of the Conservatives, which has long been a defining issue for the Liberal party.

Several hours later, Gordon Brown made his announcement. Brown's resignation -- which will occur no later than the Labour Party conference in September -- was widely understood to be a pre-condition for the Lib Dems entertaining any possibility of an alliance with Labour.

In his speech, Brown spoke of a "progressive majority" that might rule in Britain in the near future, a reference to the fact that even though the Conservative Party had won the most seats in Thursday's election, the Labour/Lib Dem seat share combined was higher (albeit still short of the 326 seats needed to form a majority coalition.) Brown also announced that the Lib Dems had asked him to begin formal meetings between the two parties (though senior officials from both sides had been meeting secretly throughout the weekend.)

But there was still more to come. Earlier Monday evening, David Cameron phoned Nick Clegg to tell him that his party was willing to hold a referendum on Alternative Voting (a form of proportional representation that the Lib Dems favor). The Labour Party is willing to adopt this system without a referendum.

While the Lib Dems are more comfortable politically with Labour -- both parties hail from the center left -- they will have a much easier time "arithmetically" with the Tories, with whom they could form an instant majority. It remains to be seen which of the United Kingdom's smaller parties might be pulled into a potential "rainbow coalition" alongside Labour and the Liberals.

The Lib Dems will continue negotiating with both parties until some form of power-sharing can be agreed upon. Until then, Gordon Brown will remain at the helm and the United Kingdom will lack a government.


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