David Cameron is UK's new prime minister

Conservative leader David Cameron has become the UK's new prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.


Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will be his deputy after they agreed to the UK's first coalition government in 70 years.


Mr Cameron, who at 43 is the youngest PM in nearly 200 years, vowed to set aside party differences and govern "in the national interest".

Mr Cameron's party won the most seats in the general election last week, but not enough to secure an overall Commons majority, resulting in a hung Parliament.

'Unique opportunity'


Following hours of talks with the Conservatives on Tuesday, the Lib Dem parliamentary party and its federal executive endorsed the coalition agreement by the required three-quarters majority at a meeting that broke up just after midnight.

Mr Cameron has begun the work of appointing his first cabinet, with the Tories' George Osborne as chancellor, William Hague as foreign secretary and Liam Fox as defence secretary.


Mr Clegg's chief of staff, Danny Alexander, who was part of the party's negotiating team, is to be Scottish Secretary,

Mr Cameron has begun the work of appointing his first cabinet, with the Tories' George Osborne as chancellor, William Hague as foreign secretary and Liam Fox as defence secretary.


Mr Clegg's chief of staff, Danny Alexander, who was part of the party's negotiating team, is to be Scottish Secretary,

Mr Cameron, who is six months younger than Tony Blair was when he entered Downing Street in 1997, is the youngest prime minister since 1812 and the first Old Etonian to hold the office since the early 1960s.


Barack Obama was the first foreign leader to congratulate Mr Cameron in a brief telephone call during which the US president invited the new prime minister to visit Washington in the summer, Downing Street said.


German Chancellor Angela Merkel also offered her congratulations and invited Mr Cameron to visit Berlin.

In a speech outside his new Downing Street home, after travelling to Buckingham Palace to formally accept the Queen's request to form the next government, Mr Cameron paid tribute to outgoing Prime Minister Gordon Brown for his long years of public service.