British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday he will step down as leader of his party after it was defeated in parliamentary elections last week.

“As leader of my party I must accept that that is a judgment on me,” he said.

He is asking his Labour Party to begin preparations for a new leadership contest in which he will not be a candidate, he said. That effectively means he is on his way out as prime minister.

He said he hoped a new leader would be in place by the next party conference, which is scheduled for September.

The move may clear the way for a deal to keep his party in power after elections last week left no party with an absolute majority in parliament.

Brown said a Labour-Liberal Democrat alliance made sense, given the results of Thursday’s vote.

“There is a progressive majority in Britain and it would be in the interest of the whole country to form a progressive coalition government,” he said.

The Conservative Party won the most seats, after 13 years in opposition, but not enough to form a government on their own.

Brown’s Labour Party came in second, and the Liberal Democrats came in third.

The Liberal Democrats are in talks with the Conservatives, but Brown said they had now asked for talks with Labour as well.

The Liberal Democrats refused to confirm to CNN that their leader, Nick Clegg, had made a request to Labour.

(Read More: CNN)