Gordon's gambit muddies political waters

Barely an hour after the Liberal Democrats made clear there was still some distance to travel before they were willing to do a deal with the Tories, Mr Brown emerged from the famous door into the middle of Downing Street where a podium had been hastily arranged.

Seizing the Liberal Democrat demand for "clarifications" from the Tories may be an opening for Labour, Mr Brown revealed that formal talks between Labour and the Liberal Democrats were to open up.

Then, in words that will enthuse critics within the party who believed that he was a blockage to any deal with Nick Clegg's party, the Prime Minister said: "The reason that we have a hung parliament is that no single party and no single leader was able to win the full support of the country.

"As leader of my party I must accept that as a judgment on me. I therefore intend to ask the Labour Party to set in train the processes needed for its own leadership election.

"I would hope that it would be completed in time for the new leader to be in post by the time of the Labour Party conference.

"I will play no part in that contest, I will back no individual candidate."

In a few sentences, the Prime Minister may have turned the tide of political history and, in a final act of defiance, scuppered Mr Cameron's dream of gaining power. A deal is far from done yet – and any alliance between Labour and the Liberal Democrats would require the support of other minor parties too in order to secure a majority – not least because of Mr Clegg's own analysis throughout the campaign, that the party with the most seats votes should be given the chance to govern.

But one thing is for certain – that as well as kicking off a Labour leadership contest Mr Brown threw into chaos a day which had earlier appeared to be heading towards an agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

It also forced the Tories to come out and offer a referendum on introducing a new voting system – the alternative vote system instead of first-past-the-post – as the bidding war for Nick Clegg's support hotted up.

By then, it seemed an eternity since Mr Clegg had emerged from his London home yesterday morning insisting he wanted to arrive at a decision "as soon as possible" after a weekend of talks between the two parties.

"I don't think a prolonged period of uncertainty is a good thing," he said, injecting only a hint of caution as he said it would be better to "get the decision right rather than rushing into something which won't stand the test of time".

As the two negotiating teams headed in to talks at the Cabinet Office, both were upbeat with William Hague, part of the Tory team of four, insisting he was "optimistic".

By 11.30am as the meeting broke up there was little sign of any major obstacles and his declaration that they had "made further progress" and the two sides were "working really well together" fuelled suspicions that an agreement would be close.

As new MPs from all parties wandered around Westminster on induction tours or armed with information packs, Liberal Democrat MPs met in Westminster Hall, steeped in history as the scene of the trial of King Charles I, and it was only once they emerged at nearly 4pm that doubts began to emerge.

David Laws, the party's education spokesman and a key negotiator, said the party wanted "clarifications" on key issues with the Tories, but it was noticeable that he also declared the meeting had "agreed that the leader will continue to listen to representations that are coming from the leader of the Labour Party".

It prompted Mr Brown to make his statement just over an hour later, and after a meeting of Conservative MPs at 6pm, many of them having arrived at Westminster for the first time only hours earlier, Shadow Foreign Secretary Mr Hague emerged to pour scorn on Labour's offer that he claimed could not result in stable government and revealed the Tories would go "the extra mile" by offering a referendum on voting reform which left the Liberal Democrats with a clear choice to make.

They used to say a week was a long time in politics – at this rate a single day is long enough.