2010-05-12 BBC
BBC News with Iain Purdon.
The leader of the British Conservative Party, David Cameron has been appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth five days after the inconclusive election. The election resulted in the Conservatives winning the largest number of seats, but failing to secure an overall majority, leaving Britain’s third party, the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power. Within the past time, Mr. Cameron was driven from Buckingham Palace to the Prime Minister’s official residence in Downing Street, where he made this announcement to the waiting crowd.
Our country has a hung parliament where no party has an overall majority. And we have some deep and pressing problems: a huge deficit, deep social problems and a political system in need of reform. For those reasons, I aim to form a proper and full coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. I believe that is the right way to provide this country with the strong, the stable, the good and decent government that I think we need so badly.
Mr. Cameron was appointed Prime Minister just after the incumbent Gordon Brown resigned, bringing to an end 13 years of Labor government. Mr. Brown announced he was resigning to reporters in Downing Street.
Only those who have held the office of prime minister can understand the full weight of its responsibilities and its great capacity for good. I have been privileged to learn much about the very best in human nature and a fare amount too about its frailties, including my own. Above all, it was a privilege to serve, and yes, I 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 or democratic, more prosperous and more just, truly a greater Britain.
And now here with his assessments of the combination of 5 days of political drama in Britain is our correspondent Rob Watson.
So David Cameron is now Britain’s 50th Prime Minister and at 43 the youngest in nearly 200 years. After short audience with the Queen, he arrived in Downing Street, acknowledging that he hadn’t won the election outright and he would therefore be forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, the first coalition in Britain in 70 years. He would, he said, strive to restore trust in politicians as the new government tackled the challenges ahead. So in the swift transition that is the British political system, the new Labor era is at its end after 13 years in the office and Gordon Brown no longer in Downing Street. Ahead lies a soberer assessment of those 13 years and of the challenges now facing Mr. Cameron, but for now, it’s the drama of the moments that he enjoys.
World News from the BBC.
The White House has said President Barack Obama is deeply frustrated that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has not yet been stopped. The comments came as three companies involved in the spill faced questioning by US senators over what went wrong. BP, the owner of the rig, said the contractor, Transocean, was responsible for the failure of a giant valve that should have stopped the blast last month. Transocean suggested that the blame lay with another company, Haliburton, that they say failed to seal the well correctly. Speaking at the Senate Hearing, the director of BP America, Lamar McKay, said the company was committed to finding out what happened.
"I want to underscore that the global resources of BP are committed to this effort and have been from the outset. Nothing is being spared. Everyone understands the enormity what lies ahead and is working to deliver an effective response at the well head, on the water and at the shoreline."
The French Parliament has unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the full-face Islamic veil or burka. The resolution is not legally binding, but correspondents say full legislation banning the veil is expected to be introduced in July. Opponents have warned that such move could be unconstitutional and stigmatize France’s Muslim minority.
Pope Benedict who’s visiting Portugal has made some of his strongest comments yet on the scandals involving pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope said the church had to acknowledge the terrifying truth that the greatest threat it faced came from sin within the church. He told journalists forgiveness could not be a substitute for justice.
Scientists in United States have begun test to provide a reliable, low-cost and reversible contraceptive for men using ultrasound equipment. The scientists say a single round of ultrasound treatment would deplete sperm reserves and make men temporarily infertile for a period of up to six months.
BBC News.