Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Resign Following Election Defeat

WORLD -- May 10, 2010 at 1:43 PM EDT

Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Resign Following Election Defeat

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces his resignation outside No. 10 Downing St. on Monday. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced his resignation on Monday, just four days after his Labor Party placed a distant second in national elections.

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

The announcement came as both Labor and the Conservative Party were each vying to form a coalition government with the nation's Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives, led by David Cameron, won the most seats in parliament during last week's election but fell short of the outright majority needed to take over No. 10 Downing St.

In his comments Monday, Brown said Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has requested to begin formal talks on a power-sharing agreement with Labor. The prime minister also said he has asked Labor officials to have his successor in place by September.

Beginning October 24, 2012, PBS NewsHour will allow open commenting for all registered users. We hope that the elimination of our moderation process will enable a more organic discussion amongst you, our audience. However, if a commenter violates our terms of use or abuses the commenting forum, their comment will be removed. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not follow these basic guidelines: comments must be relevant to the topic of the post; may not include profanity, personal attacks or hate speech; may not promote a business or raise money; may not be spam. Anything you post should be your own work. The PBS NewsHour reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the comments or emails that we receive. By submitting comments, you agree to the PBS Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.