Cameron Becomes Prime Minister

The Conservative leader David Cameron is now 'First Among Equals' after a deal for No 10 with the Liberal Democrats was announced last night.

The 43-year-old Eton and Oxford educated leader is the youngest Prime Minister in 200 years with the coalition Government he has formed with the Liberal Democrats being the first of its kind since the 1970s.

The Tory leader was formally appointed by the Queen just minutes after Gordon Brown met her to tender his resignation yesterday evening.

This morning, Mr Cameron met with the Liberal Democrat leader, and now Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg in Downing Street to set to work on the agenda for the new parliament and to hammer out the details of the deal struck between to the two parties.

So far, early details of the new cabinet, which includes a number of Liberal Democrats as part of the deal, have emerged.

From the Conservatives, former Tory leader William Hague has been announced as the new Foreign Secretary; close ally and fellow Etonian George Osborne has been appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer; Liam Fox is now Defence Secretary and Andrew Lansley is the new Health Secretary.

The Lib Dem appointments to the Cabinet include the popular Vince Cable, who takes the portfolio for Business and Banking after talking tough on bank and financial reform during the election campaign; Chris Huhne, who stood against Nick Clegg for the party's leadership in 2007 takes the portfolio for Energy and Climate Change while David Laws and Danny Alexander have also both been tipped for front bench seats.

Speaking late last night on the newly formed coalition Mr Clegg expressed thanks and admiration for the outgoing Gordon Brown who resigned after talks between the Labour and Lib Dems broke down.

"We are now going to form a new government, more importantly we are going to form a new kind of government.

"I hope this is the start of the new politics I have always believed in: diverse, plural, when politicians of different persuasions come together to overcome their differences in order to deliver a good government for the sake of the whole country," Mr Clegg said.

After six days of intensive Conservative and Lib Dem negotiations, yesterday's deal represents an amalgamation of agendas by the two parties.

It is understood that the Tory policies of £6 billion in spending cuts this year will go ahead, Britain's nuclear deterrent will be maintained and that the proposed national insurance rises will be scrapped.

However the Lib Dem policies that will be implemented include a substantial increase in the personal tax allowance from April 2011 with a focus on low and middle-income earners, a referendum to bring in some form of alternative vote system and the imposition of fixed term parliaments of five years beginning now.

(DW/BMcc)