Queen Elizabeth appoints Gordon Brown as prime minister

Queen Elizabeth has appointed the new Labour party leader Gordon Brown as the UK's new prime minister.

Queen Elizabeth summoned Mr Brown to Buckingham Palace today just minutes after his predecessor, Tony Blair, had told her that he wished to resign the post which he had held since May 1997.

New prime ministers are usually appointed after general elections but Queen Elizabeth has appointed several before between elections.

The first was in April 1955 when she accepted the resignation of Winston Churchill and then appointed Anthony Eden as his successor. Gordon Brown is the eleventh prime minister to have served during her reign.