Ciao Gordon Brown

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Reuters is reporting that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will resign this year, falling on his sword in hopes of salvaging power for his Labour Party. Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, had been in coalition talks with the Conservative Party – which won the most seats in last week’s election but failed to secure a large enough majority to win outright. Brown’s announcement comes as those talks have seemingly stalled. Brown’s concession won him Clegg’s agreement to also enter into formal coalition talks with Labour. The Liberal Democratic Party was founded in 1988 when the Social Democrats – tired of Labour’s kowtowing to unions – split from Labour and joined with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats.

As TIME’s London Bureau Chief Catherine Mayer hilariously notes, Clegg is as popular, dangerous and befuddling as Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. So the question is: will Clegg date Conservative leader David Cameron but marry Labour or date Brown and marry Cameron?