Gordon Brown's time in Downing Street has seen him move from the position of Chancellor under Tony Blair to take the country's top political office in 2007.

But his general election campaign in 2010 that led to the announcement of his planned resignation was marred by a combination of political failure and personal flaws.

IN DETAIL

• Mr Cameron's rise to the top
• Cameron's speech in full
• Samantha Cameron: The new lady of Downing Street
• Tributes paid as Brown steps down
• Brown resigns as Prime Minister
• Labour leadership contest - the contenders
• VIDEO: Bernard Ponsonby' special report on Brown's time in Downing Street
• GALLERY: The election in pictures
• VIDEO: Gordon Brown's resignation statement

He failed to call a general election in October 2007, and questions over his authority grew louder and more public. September 2008 saw an attempted coup in the cabinet.

The international financial crisis put Labour and Brown back on the front foot, as the Tories seemed unsure how to deal with the issue, while the expenses crisis plagued all the parties keeping any Tory advances in check.

His detractors always said that Gordon Brown was not good with people, and that seemed to emerge during the election campaign, particularly during the incident in Rochdale when he called a pensioner a bigot.

This incident led to the picture of a prime minister with his head in his hands, which became the defining image of a man who knew he did not have the popular touch that modern politics requires.