GORDON Brown has announced he will quit as Labour leader as he revealed Nick Clegg had requested formal talks with his party over a future government.

Mr Brown said he was asking the Labour Party to call a leadership election in which he would play no part.

Mr Brown 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."