Brown clings on as leaders bluff in tense game of political poker

GORDON Brown raised the stakes in the biggest political gamble of his life last night as he desperately tried to cling onto power.

The British premier refused to concede defeat after a knife-edge election result brought the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

Attempting to regain the political initiative, Brown threw down a challenge to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to use his role as Westminster “king maker” to form a progressive alliance with Labour to radically transform the British political system for good.

As a tense game of political poker saw the three main party leaders calling each others’ bluff, Tory supremo David Cameron insisted he had the right to try and form a “strong” government despite falling some 20 seats short of the Commons’ majority he needed.

Britain’s first “hung” parliament for 36 years saw the Conservatives make the biggest gains since the 1930s, but even their tally of almost 100 extra seats could not push them over the 326 figure needed to command a majority in the Commons.

Brown stubbornlyrefused to admit he had lost the election, despite the Labour vote collapsing to a near record low of 29% and the party losing nearly 100 seats as it was reduced to 258 MPs.

Britain’s constitutional arrangements allow Brown to remain prime minister and seek to put together a government until he faces a challenge in parliament.

Despite Cameron opening negotiations with the Lib Dems – who despite failing to make an expected breakthrough retain 57 MPs – Brown is gambling that the policy differences between the two parties on issues like Europe, immigration and Britain’s nuclear deterrent will make a deal impossible between Clegg and the Tories.

To entice the Lib Dems into propping up a minority Labour government, Brown has made it clear he will deliver on the Lib Dems long-demanded goal of holding a referendum on introducing proportional representation for British elections.

Underling his continued status as Prime Minister, Brown used the backdrop of Downing Street to insist he wanted to provide “strong, stable and principled government” for Britain.

In a blatant attempt to woo the Lib Dems, he announced: “A fairer voting system is central. There needs to be immediate legislation on this to begin to restore public trust in politics.”

Tory leader David Cameron also courted the Lib Dems, saying he proposed to make them a “big, open and comprehensive offer”.

“There is a case for going further than an arrangement that simply keeps a minority Conservative government in office. I want us to work together in tackling our country’s problems,” he said.

Cameron insisted he was the real victor of the election as the Conservatives won two million more votes than Labour and achieved a higher share of the vote than Tony Blair did at the last election.

Cameron’s overture followed comments from Clegg who said the Tories had the “first right” to seek to form a government.

“I think it is now for the Conservative Party to prove that it is capable of seeking to govern in the national interest,” he said.

Clegg faces a dilemma as his party lost seats and so lacks the authority he had hoped major gains would bring.

His party is much closer to Labour than the Tories, but he is loathe to keep Brown in Downing Street after the prime minister received such a rejection from the electorate.

An arrangement between Labour and the Lib Dems would also need the support of SDLP MPs and other independents to make it viable.