David Cameron last night entered 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister promising to lead Britain through to "better times ahead".
Arriving from his audience at Buckingham Palace where he formally "kissed hands" with the Queen, the Conservative leader said he intended to form a "full and proper" coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
With his wife Samantha by his side, he declared: "This is going to be tough and difficult work. Coalition will throw up all sorts of difficulties but I believe that together we can provide that strong and stable government that our country needs."
His arrival was marked by a telephone call from President Barack Obama in the White House congratulating him on his appointment.
Less than two hours earlier, Gordon Brown had emerged to announce that he was making his own journey to the Palace to tender his resignation, bringing down the curtain on 13 years of Labour government.
Sources confirmed that Mr Cameron's close ally George Osborne will be the new Chancellor of the Exchequer while William Hague is Foreign Secretary.
It was reported that Andrew Lansley would go to the Department of Health, keeping his shadow Cabinet portfolio.
But much of the shape of the new Government was unclear. Even as Mr Cameron was entering No 10, the deal thrashed out by Conservative and Lib Dem negotiating teams had still to be approved by Lib Dem MPs, who were meeting in Westminster.
Early this morning a government official stated that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was named as Deputy Prime Minister in Britain's new government.
Mr Cameron said he and the Lib Dem leader were both prepared to put aside their party differences and "work hard for the common good and for the national interest".
"I believe that is the best way to get the strong government that we need, the decisive government that we need today," he said.
"I think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our really big challenges, to confront our problems, to take difficult decisions, to lead people through these difficult decisions so that together we can reach better times ahead."
The new Prime Minister went on: "One of the tasks that we clearly have is to rebuild trust in our political system."