Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has resigned as leader of his Labor Party and his two political rivals near a deal to form a new government. Our correspondent looks back at the turbulent career of Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown announced his resignation Tuesday evening.
"I've informed the Queen's private secretary that it's my intention to tender my resignation to the queen," said Gordon Brown. "In the event that the Queen accepts I shall advise her to invite the leader of the opposition to seek to form a government."
He said opposition leader David Cameron would take over.
The move draws to a close 13 years of Labor leadership and an important chapter in Britain's history.
Mr. Brown has dominated British politics for over two decades and was at the forefront of New Labor when it swept to power with a landslide majority in 1997.
With Tony Blair at the helm, Mr. Brown became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
And in 2007, after years in waiting, he finally took the top seat.
"It is with humility and it's with pride, and it's with a great sense of duty that I accept the privilege and the great responsibility of leading our party and changing our country," he said.
Mr. Brown was initially a popular leader but after a brief honeymoon public opinion largely turned against him.
Richard Vinen, a Professor at King's College London, says Mr. Brown was never able to emerge from the shadow cast by Mr. Blair.
"Tony Blair was such a glamorous figure, such an international figure," said Richard Vinen. "Now obviously it's not his fault that he was overshadowed by Tony Blair but it's always meant he's had an election problem because he's such a kind of socially awkward person, because he comes across so badly on television, because he clearly has such difficult problems with some of his cabinet colleagues."
But Mr. Brown's personal qualities haven't been his only problem. The Labor legacy on war - in Iraq and now in Afghanistan - and the economic downturn were added difficulties.
But Mr. Brown has been credited for a leading role in the financial recovery, says Vinen.
"I think the thing that will be said most in these kind of political obituaries that are being written as we speak will be to say that he handled the banking crisis well and that he was the kind of key figure in saying that there should be a rescue plans for the banks," he said.
But his economic policies have not been enough to keep him in power and now the question for Labor supporters is who will be the next leader of the party.
But most eyes will now turn to Britain's new top party, the Conservatives, and its leader David Cameron.
