BRITISH CRISIS OVER? – AT 6:17 P.M. ET:  Well, we're not really sure.  As many of you know by now, events moved very quickly today in London.  Any chance of a deal that would keep Labour in power in a deal with the Liberal Democrats collapsed – at least Labour demonstrated some pride in this – but a deal between the Conservatives and the Liberal Dems appears in the making, and pretty much assured.

So, Gordon Brown firmly resigned as prime minister, visiting the Queen to do it, and the Queen summoned David Cameron, the conservative chief, and asked him to form a new government.

Cameron is the new prime minister, even though his deal with the Lib Dems is not complete, and brings its own dangers.  From the solid John Burns of The New York Times:

LONDON — David Cameron, the Conservative leader, took over as Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday evening and announced the formation of a coalition government, capping a day of political negotiations that ended with the Tories returning to power after 13 years in the opposition.

That word "coalition" requires the magnifying glass to look at the fine print that emerges.  We want to know how British foreign and defense policy will be affected. 

Speaking outside the prime minister’s office at 10 Downing Street, Mr. Cameron said his Conservative party, which failed to win an outright majority in last week’s elections, would form a coalition with the center-left Liberal Democrats — a potentially fraught arrangement that Mr. Cameron admitted could pose “all sorts of challenges.”

Indeed.  The Lib Dems favor the dismantling of Britain's Trident submarine fleet and have something of an anti-American tone about them.  Fox is reporting that their leader, Nicholas Clegg, who sometimes gives the impression that he doesn't much like his own country, may be deputy prime minister, a breathtaking achievement for a leader who actually lost seats in last Thursday's election.

How much of the store has been given away? 

A five-hour meeting between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who came in third in the elections, ended Tuesday with no announcement of a deal. William Hague, a Conservative leader, emerged from talks without giving any details of the negotiations, saying he and his colleagues were on their way to see Mr. Cameron.

We will withhold any champagne until we see the arrangement.  Cameron is an ambitious man, and ambitious men can make foolish concessions on their way to the job they've sought all their lives.

This is a better outcome than a Labour-Lib Dem deal.  How much better remains to be seen.

May 10, 2010