UK election: Brown offers resignation to Queen

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown resigned with a brief, emotional statement this morning, ending 13 years of the Labour Party government.

Nearby, the parties of Brown's two chief rivals - the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats - were trying to seal a coalition deal after the country's inconclusive election last week.

Standing outside 10 Downing St. alongside his wife Sarah, Brown announced he would travel to see Queen Elizabeth II to resign.

His resignation paves the way for Conservative David Cameron to take office, possibly as part of deal with Nick Clegg, leader of the third-place Liberal Democrats.

"I have informed the queen's private secretary that it is my intention to tender my resignation to the queen," said Brown. He said he would ask the monarch to invite Cameron to form a government.

"I wish the next prime minister well as he makes the important choices for the future," said Brown. "Only those who have held the office of prime minister can understand the full weight of its responsibilities and its great capacity for good."

Brown said he had "loved the job, not for its prestige, its titles and its ceremony, which I do not love at all."

"No, I loved the job for its potential to make this country I love fairer, more tolerant, more green, more democratic, more prosperous, more just - truly a greater Britain," he declared.

Cameron 43, will become the youngest British leader in nearly two centuries.

After his brief statement, the 59-year-old Brown walked hand-in-hand with his wife and young sons John and Fraser down Downing Street, where a car waited to take him to the palace.

Brown spent about 15 minutes inside the palace and was then driven away - no longer Britain's leader. Minutes later he arrived at Labour Party headquarters, where he was greeted warmly by cheering staffers.

In a carefully choreographed dance, Cameron arrived at Buckingham Palace shortly after Brown left.

Brown's resignation ends five days of uncertainty after last week's general election left the country with no clear winner. It left Britain with its first hung Parliament since 1974, which no one party won a majority of seats in the House of Commons.

Britain's Conservatives won the most seats - 306 out of the 650 seats in Parliament - but fell short of a majority, forcing them and the Labour Party to woo the Liberal Democrats.

Negotiators for the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats met for several hours Tuesday, but emerged without confirming whether a deal had been struck. Conservative deputy chief William Hague said only that the atmosphere had been "positive."

Brown's departure follows three successive election victories for his center-left Labour Party, all of which were won by his predecessor Tony Blair, who ousted the Conservatives in 1997.

-AP