Because the combined Labour (258) and LibDem (57)  seats are still not an overall majority (326).
The Conservatives have 306 seats, other parties 28, still to vote, 1.
Total seats = 650

David Cameron confirmed as new prime minister by the Queen

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

Mr Cameron, 43, entered 10 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 general election last week, but not an overall majority.

In a speech outside his new Downing Street home, 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".

Cabinet posts

He paid tribute to outgoing Prime Minister Gordon Brown for his long years of public service and pledged to tackle Britain's "pressing problems" - the deficit, social problems and to "rebuild trust in our political system".
     
Mr Cameron's arrival in Downing Street marks the end of 13 years of Labour rule and sees the first coalition government in the UK in 70 years.

It is also the first Liberal Democrat and Conservative power-sharing deal at Westminster in history.

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

US President Barack Obama was the first foreign leader to congratulate Mr Cameron in a brief telephone call.

Mr Cameron has begun the work of appointing his first cabinet - with George Osborne confirmed as chancellor and William Hague as foreign secretary.

There are expected to be top jobs for Lib Dems in the new coalition, with speculation that their party leader, Nick Clegg, will be the deputy prime minister.

In his speech on the steps of Downing Street, Mr Cameron eschewed the high flown rhetoric or even poetry favoured by some of his predecessors.

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

He said he aimed to "help build a more responsible society here in Britain... Those who can should and those who can't, we will always help. I want to make sure that my government always looks after the elderly, the frail, the poorest in our country.

"We must take everyone through with us on some of the difficult decisions we have ahead.

"I came into politics because I love this country, I think it's best days still lie ahead and I believe deeply in public service.

"I think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our big challenges, to confront our problems, take difficult decisions, lead people through those decisions, so that together we can 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.

Mr Clegg must get the support of a majority of his MPs and his party's ruling body, the federal executive, before he can enter into a coalition.

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

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.

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".

NorthOfNorth wrote on May 12^th, 2010 at 7:40am:


His fitness was questioned when he took over from Blair - whose fitness had been questioed for years before that.

NorthOfNorth wrote on May 12^th, 2010 at 7:40am:


His fitness was questioned when he took over from Blair - whose fitness had been questioed for years before that.