GORDON Brown has finally been invited to form a Government by the Queen.

After spending 57 minutes at Buckingham Palace, Mr Brown left in his new Prime Ministerial car as Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service.

This morning, the last opinion poll of Tony Blair’s premiership showed a rise in Labour support to 36%. The YouGov poll for Sky News kept the Tories on 37% and dropped the Lib Dems to 12%.

Tony Blair joked today in his final day in the Commons as he stated that “this morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I will have no such further meetings today, or any other day” and read aloud a “communication by urgent letter” which he received yesterday:

“Details of employee leaving work: Surname Blair. First name T”—

it actually says “Mr., Mrs., Miss or other”—

“This form is important to you. Take good care of it. P45.”

Mr Blair left the Chamber as MPs of all parties gave him a standing ovation, went to Downing Street for the last time as Prime Minister before heading to Buckingham Palace to oficially resign as Prime Minister.

Minutes later, Gordon Brown accepted the Queen’s invitation to form a Government – and the first Cabinet casualties have been Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary) and Patricia Hewett (Health Secretary).

So now Gordon Brown faces the tough challenges of running the Country, what happens now to Tony Blair?

Tonight it has been confirmed that he will stand down as an MP and has been given the job as Envoy to the Middle East for the Middle East Quartet.

More updates to follow when cabinet positions are confirmed.