New UK PM
May 12, 2010
Britain's new Prime Minister David Cameron has begun appointing political allies to key cabinet posts and establishing the agenda of his coalition government.
The leader of the Conservative Party filled many top cabinet posts on Wednesday, including lawmaker Liam Fox as defense secretary, William Hague as foreign secretary, Kenneth Clarke as justice secretary and Theresa May as home secretary.
Liberal Democrat negotiator David Laws was appointed as chief secretary to the treasury.
Uneasy partnership
Cameron, 43, has formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, despite stark ideological differences between the two parties.
"We have a shared agenda and a shared resolve to tackle the challenges our country faces, to safeguard our national security and support our troops abroad, to tackle the debt crisis, to repair our broken political system and to build a stronger society," Cameron said at a press conference in London on Wednesday.
Cameron was accompanied by his deputy pime minister, Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats. The two formed a coalition after Cameron made an attractive offer of a referendum on electoral reform, a key party platform of the Liberal Democrats.
Clegg is among the five Liberal Democrats in the coalition cabinet.
End of Labour Party era
Cameron has taken over from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose resignation officially ended the Labour Party's 13-year hold on power.
In his first speech as prime minister, Cameron thanked the outgoing prime minister for his "long record of dedicated public service," and spoke of the challenges ahead for Britain.
Brown became prime minister in June 2007 after Tony Blair stepped down following 10 years in power and three straight general election victories.
The Conservatives won the most seats - 306 - and votes in last Thursday's election. Brown's ruling Labour party was beaten into second place with 258 seats, while the Liberal Democrats came in a distant third with 57 seats. Smaller parties won 28 seats between them.
The coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has a clear majority of 363 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons. While the parties have many differences, they all agree that a "stable government" is needed a time of deep economic uncertainty in Britain and Europe.
dfm/wl/Reuters/AP
Editor: Chuck Penfold