IN the end, after one of the most protracted General Election dramas in history, it was the only outcome that could offer any real credibility.

We said last Saturday morning, as the dust settled on a confused election result, that a Conservative deal with the Liberal Democrats was the best way to give Britain a stable government at a time of economic crisis.

A coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems, propped up by the minority parties, was fantasy politics. It would have been no more than an increasingly unworkable and shortlived answer to the Labour Party clinging on to power.

And the risk to Labour would have been that short-term survival would have turned into long-term opposition.

Gordon Brown is best remembered for his time as a trusted Chancellor rather than a flawed Prime Minister.

For all his short-comings during his time in Number 10, he showed true leadership in tackling the recession and he departs with dignity.

After 13 years of New Labour, which has made this country a fairer country, it is time for a new political era.

We have the first coalition government since the war and we are heartened by David Cameron’s acceptance speech in which he talked of the need to overcome party differences, rebuild trust in Parliament and work towards the common good.

Mr Cameron is Britain’s new Prime Minister and he faces enormous challenges amid the global financial chaos and the need to tackle the country’s unprecedented deficit.

He fell short in his ambition to achieve an overall majority. But it is in all our interests that he now proves the doubters – including us – wrong.