David Cameron
This article is about the British Prime Minister. For other uses, see David Cameron (disambiguation).
| The Right Honourable David Cameron MP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| David Cameron in 2010. | |
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 11 May 2010 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Deputy | Nick Clegg |
| Preceded by | Gordon Brown |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 6 December 2005 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Michael Howard |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman |
| Leader of the Conservative Party | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 6 December 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Howard |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Education | |
| In office 6 May 2005 – 6 December 2005 | |
| Leader | Michael Howard |
| Preceded by | Tim Collins |
| Succeeded by | David Willetts |
| Member of Parliament for Witney | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Shaun Woodward |
| Majority | 22,740 (39.4%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David William Donald Cameron 9 October 1966 [1] London, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Samantha Sheffield (1996–present) |
| Children | Ivan (deceased) Nancy Arthur Florence |
| Residence | 10 Downing Street |
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford |
| Religion | Anglicanism |
| Website | Official website |
David William Donald Cameron (/ˈkæmᵊrən/; born 9 October 1966)[1] is a British politician who has served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2010 and as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney since 2001.[2] He has been Leader of the Conservative Party since 2005.
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Brasenose College, Oxford, there being a member of the Bullingdon Club. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years. Cameron first stood for Parliament in Stafford in 1997. He ran on a Euroscepticplatform, breaking with his party's then-policy by opposing British membership of the single European currency, and was defeated by a swing close to the national average. He was first elected to Parliament in the 2001 general election for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. With a public image of a youthful, moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters, he won the Conservative leadership election in 2005.[3]
Following the development of a hung parliament in the 2010 general election, Cameron became Prime Minister as the leader of a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.[4] Cameron's premiership has been marked by the ongoing effects of the late-2000s financial crisis leading to a large deficit in government finances, which his government has emphasised the need to reduce through austerity measures. His administration has introduced large-scale changes to welfare, immigration policy, education and healthcare, by introducing the Welfare Reform Act of 2012, the Education Act of 2011, the Health and Social Care Act of 2012 and a range of immigration reforms from 2010 onwards, culminating in the Immigration Act of 2014.[5] In 2011, Cameron became the first British Prime Minister to 'veto' an EU treaty.[6] His government introduced a nationwide referendum on voting reform in 2011, a Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum in 2013, agreed to a Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, legalised same-sex marriages in England and Wales, met the United Nations target of spending at least 0.7% of GNI on aid to developing countries and promised an 'In/Out' Referendum on the European Union in 2017, after a period of renegotiation, if the Conservatives are re-elected with an outright majority.
Origins
See also: Family of David Cameron and Samantha Cameron
David Cameron is the younger son of stockbroker Ian Donald Cameron (12 October 1932 – 8 September 2010) and his wife Mary Fleur (née Mount, born 1934,[7] a retired Justice of the Peace, daughter of Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet).[8] Cameron's parents were married on 20 October 1962.[7]
Cameron was born in London and brought up in Peasemore, Berkshire.[9] Cameron has a brother, Alexander Allan (born 1963, a barrister and QC)[10] and two sisters, Tania Rachel (born 1965) and Clare Louise (born 1971).[11][7]His father, Ian, was born at Blairmore House, a country house near Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and died near Toulon, in France, on 8 September 2010;[12] Ian was born with both legs deformed and underwent repeated operations to correct them. Blairmore was built by Cameron's great-great-grandfather, Alexander Geddes,[13] who had made a fortune in the grain trade in Chicago and returned to Scotland in the 1880s.[14]
Through his paternal grandmother, Enid Agnes Maud Levita, Cameron is a lineal descendant of King William IV by his mistress Dorothea Jordan. This illegitimate line consists of five generations of women starting with Elizabeth Hay, Countess of Erroll, née FitzClarence, William and Jordan's sixth child,[15] through to Cameron's grandmother (thereby making Cameron a 5th cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II).[16]
In the 1830s Cameron's first cousin six times removed was compensated with £4,101 for 202 slaves when they were liberated by Parliament.[17] Cameron's paternal forebears also have a long history in finance. His father Ian was senior partner of the stockbrokers Panmure Gordon, in which firm partnerships had long been held by Cameron's ancestors, including David's grandfather and great-grandfather,[11] and was a Director of estate agent John D. Wood. David Cameron's great-great-grandfather Emile Levita was a German Jewish financier and a direct descendant of Renaissance scholar Elia Levita, the author of Bovo-Bukh, the first secular work ever published in Yiddish. Emile Levita obtained British citizenship in 1871 and was the director of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China which became Standard Chartered Bank in 1969.[16] Through Levita, Cameron is a descendent of the Levites, who themselves claim to be descended from Moses.[16] His wife, Cameron's great-great-grandmother, was a descendant of the wealthy Danish Jewish Rée family on her father's side.[18][19]
One of Emile's sons, Arthur Francis Levita (died 1910, brother of Sir Cecil Levita),[20] of Panmure Gordon stockbrokers, together with great-great-grandfather Sir Ewen Cameron,[21] London head of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, played key roles in arranging loans supplied by the Rothschilds to the Japanese Central Banker (later Prime Minister) Takahashi Korekiyo for the financing of the Japanese Government in the Russo-Japanese war.[22]
Cameron's maternal grandfather was Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet, an Army officer who served as High Sheriff of Berkshire, and Cameron's maternal great-grandfather was Sir William Mount, 1st Baronet, CBE, Conservative MP for Newbury 1918–1922. Cameron's great-great-grandmother was Lady Ida Matilda Alice Feilding. His great-great-great-grandfather was William Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh, GCH, PC, a courtier and Gentleman of the Bedchamber.[23] His mother's cousin, Sir Ferdinand Mount, was head of 10 Downing Street's Policy Unit in the early 1980s. Cameron is the nephew of Sir William Dugdale, brother-in-law of Katherine, Lady Dugdale (died 2004) Lady-in-Waiting to HM The Queen since 1955,[24][25] and former Chairman ofAston Villa Football Club. Birmingham-born documentary filmmaker Joshua Dugdale is his cousin.[26]
Cameron has said: "On my mother's side of the family, her mother was a Llewellyn, so Welsh. I'm a real mixture of Scottish, Welsh and English".[27]
Education
From the age of seven, Cameron was educated at two independent schools: at Heatherdown School in Winkfield (near Ascot) in Berkshire, which counts Prince Andrew and Prince Edward among its alumni. Due to good academic grades, Cameron entered its top academic class almost two years early.[28] At the age of thirteen, he went to Eton College in Berkshire, following his father and elder brother.[29] His early interest was in art. Six weeks before taking his O-Levels he was caught smoking cannabis.[3] He admitted the offence and had not been involved in selling drugs, so he was not expelled, but was fined, prevented from leaving school grounds, and given a "Georgic" (a punishment which involved copying 500 lines of Latin text).[30]
Cameron passed 12 O-Levels and then studied three A-Levels: History of Art, History, and Economics with Politics. He obtained three 'A' grades and a '1' grade in the Scholarship Level exam in Economics and Politics.[31]The following autumn he passed the entrance exam for the University of Oxford, where he was offered an exhibition.[32]
After leaving Eton in 1984,[33] Cameron started a nine-month gap year. He worked as a researcher for his godfather Tim Rathbone, then Conservative MP for Lewes. In his three months, he attended debates in the House of Commons.[34] Through his father, he was then employed for a further three months in Hong Kong by Jardine Matheson as a 'ship jumper', an administrative post.[35]
Returning from Hong Kong, Cameron visited the then Soviet Union, where he was approached by two Russian men speaking fluent English. Cameron was later told by one of his professors that it was 'definitely an attempt' by the KGB to recruit him.[36]
Cameron began his Bachelor of Arts studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Brasenose College, Oxford.[37] His tutor, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, described him as "one of the ablest"[38] students he has taught, with "moderate and sensible Conservative" political views.[11]
Guy Spier, who shared tutorials with him, remembers him as an outstanding student: "We were doing our best to grasp basic economic concepts. David – there was nobody else who came even close. He would be integrating them with the way the British political system is put together. He could have lectured me on it, and I would have sat there and taken notes.."[39] When commenting in 2006 on his former pupil's ideas about a "Bill of Rights" to replace theHuman Rights Act, however, Professor Bogdanor, himself a Liberal Democrat, said, "I think he is very confused. I've read his speech and it's filled with contradictions. There are one or two good things in it but one glimpses them, as it were, through a mist of misunderstanding".[40]
While at Oxford, Cameron was a member of the élite student dining society, the Bullingdon Club, which has a reputation for an outlandish drinking culture associated with boisterous behaviour and damaging property.[41] A photograph showing Cameron in a tailcoat with other members of this exclusive club, including Boris Johnson, surfaced in 2007, but was later withdrawn by the copyright holder.[42] Cameron's period in the Bullingdon Club was examined in a Channel 4 docu-drama, When Boris Met Dave, broadcast on 7 October 2009. His friends outside the Bullingdon Club included fellow PPE student Catherine Fall. Cameron graduated in 1988 with a first-class honours degree (MA).[43]
Cameron was a member of White's gentleman's club in St James's Street, London, until he resigned his membership in 2008.[44]
Early political career
Conservative Research Department
After graduation, Cameron worked for the Conservative Research Department between September 1988 and 1993. In 1991, Cameron was seconded to Downing Street to work on briefing John Major for his then bi-weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions. One newspaper gave Cameron the credit for "sharper ... Despatch box performances" by Major,[45] which included highlighting for Major "a dreadful piece of doublespeak" by Tony Blair (then the Labour Employment spokesman) over the effect of a national minimum wage.[46] He became head of the political section of the Conservative Research Department, and in August 1991 was tipped to follow Judith Chaplin as Political Secretary to the Prime Minister.[47]
However, Cameron lost to Jonathan Hill, who was appointed in March 1992. He was given the responsibility for briefing Major for his press conferences during the 1992 general election.[48] During the campaign, Cameron was one of the young "brat pack" of party strategists who worked between 12 and 20 hours a day, sleeping in the house of Alan Duncan in Gayfere Street, Westminster, which had been Major's campaign headquarters during his bid for the Conservative leadership.[49] Cameron headed the economic section; it was while working on this campaign that Cameron first worked closely with Steve Hilton, who was later to become Director of Strategy during his party leadership.[50] The strain of getting up at 4:45 am every day was reported to have led Cameron to decide to leave politics in favour of journalism.[51]
Special Adviser to the Chancellor
The Conservatives' unexpected success in the 1992 election led Cameron to hit back at older party members who had criticised him and his colleagues, saying "whatever people say about us, we got the campaign right," and that they had listened to their campaign workers on the ground rather than the newspapers. He revealed he had led other members of the team across Smith Square to jeer at Transport House, the former Labour headquarters.[52] Cameron was rewarded with a promotion to Special Adviser to theChancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont.[53]
Cameron was working for Lamont at the time of Black Wednesday, when pressure from currency speculators forced the Pound sterling out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. At the 1992 Conservative Party conference, Cameron had difficulty trying to arrange to brief the speakers in the economic debate, having to resort to putting messages on the internal television system imploring the mover of the motion, Patricia Morris, to contact him.[54] Later that month Cameron joined a delegation of Special Advisers who visited Germany to build better relations with the Christian Democratic Union; he was reported to be "still smarting" over the Bundesbank's contribution to the economic crisis.[55]
Lamont fell out with John Major after Black Wednesday and became highly unpopular with the public. Taxes needed to be raised in the 1993 Budget, and Cameron fed the options Lamont was considering through to Conservative Central Office for their political acceptability to be assessed.[56] However, Lamont's unpopularity did not necessarily affect Cameron: he was considered as a potential "kamikaze" candidate for the Newbury by-election, which includes the area where he grew up.[57] However, Cameron decided not to stand.
During the by-election, Lamont gave the response "Je ne regrette rien" to a question about whether he most regretted claiming to see "the green shoots of recovery" or admitting to "singing in his bath" with happiness at leaving the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Cameron was identified by one journalist as having inspired this gaffe; it was speculated that the heavy Conservative defeat in Newbury may have cost Cameron his chance of becoming Chancellor himself, even though as he was not a Member of Parliament he could not have been.[58] Lamont was sacked at the end of May 1993, and decided not to write the usual letter of resignation; Cameron was given the responsibility to issue to the press a statement of self-justification.[59]
Special Adviser to the Home Secretary
After Lamont was sacked, Cameron remained at the Treasury for less than a month before being specifically recruited by Home Secretary Michael Howard; it was commented that he was still "very much in favour".[60] It was later reported that many at the Treasury would have preferred Cameron to carry on.[61] At the beginning of September 1993, Cameron applied to go on Conservative Central Office's list of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates.[62]
According to Derek Lewis, then Director-General of Her Majesty's Prison Service, Cameron showed him a "his and hers list" of proposals made by Howard and his wife, Sandra. Lewis said that Sandra Howard's list included reducing the quality of prison food, although Sandra Howard denied this claim. Lewis reported that Cameron was "uncomfortable" about the list.[63] In defending Sandra Howard and insisting that she made no such proposal, the journalist Bruce Anderson wrote that Cameron had proposed a much shorter definition on prison catering which revolved around the phrase "balanced diet", and that Lewis had written thanking Cameron for a valuable contribution.[64]
During his work for Howard, Cameron often briefed the media. In March 1994, someone leaked to the Press that the Labour Party had called for a meeting with John Major to discuss a consensus on the Prevention of Terrorism Act. After an inquiry failed to find the source of the leak, Labour MP Peter Mandelson demanded assurance from Howard that Cameron had not been responsible, which Howard gave.[65][66] A senior Home Office civil servant noted the influence of Howard's Special Advisers, saying previous incumbents "would listen to the evidence before making a decision. Howard just talks to young public school gentlemen from the party headquarters."[67]
Carlton
In July 1994, Cameron left his role as Special Adviser to work as the Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications.[68] Carlton, which had won the ITV franchise for London weekdays in 1991, was a growing media company which also had film distribution and video producing arms. Cameron was suggested for the role to Carlton executive chairman Michael Green by his later mother-in-law Lady Astor.[69] In 1997, Cameron played up the Company's prospects for digital terrestrial television, for which it joined with Granada television and BSkyB to form British Digital Broadcasting. In a roundtable discussion on the future of broadcasting in 1998 he criticised the effect of overlapping different regulators on the industry.[70]
Carlton's consortium did win the digital terrestrial franchise but the resulting company suffered difficulties in attracting subscribers. Cameron resigned as Director of Corporate Affairs in February 2001 in order to fight for election to Parliament, although he remained on the payroll as a consultant.
Parliamentary candidacy
Having been approved for the Candidates' list, Cameron began looking for a seat. He was reported to have missed out on selection for Ashford in December 1994 after failing to get to the selection meeting as a result of train delays.[71] In early 1996, he was selected for Stafford, a constituency revised in boundary changes, which was projected to have a Conservative majority.[72] At the 1996 Conservative Party Conference he called for tax cuts in the forthcoming Budget to be targeted at the low-paid and to "small businesses where people took money out of their own pockets to put into companies to keep them going".[73] He also said the Party "should be proud of the Tory tax record but that people needed reminding of its achievements ... It's time to return to our tax-cutting agenda. The socialist Prime Ministers of Europe have endorsed Tony Blair because they want a federal pussy cat and not a British lion."[74]
When writing his election address, Cameron made his own opposition to British membership of the single European currency clear, pledging not to support it. This was a break with official Conservative policy but about 200 other candidates were making similar declarations.[75] Otherwise, Cameron kept closely to the national party line. He also campaigned using the claim that a Labour Government would increase the cost of a pint of beer by 24p; however, the Labour candidate, David Kidney, portrayed Cameron as "a right-wing Tory". Stafford had a swing almost the same as the national swing, which made it one of the many seats to fall to Labour: David Kidney had a majority of 4,314.[76][77]
In the round of selection contests taking place in the run-up to the 2001 general election, Cameron again attempted to be selected for a winnable seat. He tried for the Kensington and Chelsea seat after the death of Alan Clark, but did not make the shortlist. He was in the final two but narrowly lost at Wealden in March 2000,[78] a loss ascribed by Samantha Cameron to his lack of spontaneity when speaking.[79]
On 4 April 2000 Cameron was selected as prospective candidate (PPC) for Witney in Oxfordshire. This had been a safe Conservative seat but its sitting MP Shaun Woodward (who had worked with Cameron on the 1992 election campaign) had "crossed the floor" to join the Labour Party. Cameron's biographers Francis Elliott and James Hanning describe them as being "on fairly friendly terms".[80] Cameron, advised in his strategy by friend Catherine Fall, put a great deal of effort into "nursing" his potential constituency, turning up at social functions, and attacking Woodward for changing his mind on fox hunting to support a ban.[81]
During the election campaign, Cameron accepted the offer of writing a regular column for The Guardian's online section.[82] He won the seat with a 1.9% swing to the Conservatives and a majority of 7,973.[83][84]
Member of Parliament
Upon his election to Parliament, he served as a member of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, a prominent appointment for a newly elected MP. Cameron proposed that the Committee launch an inquiry into the law on drugs,[85] and urged the consideration of "radical options".[86] The report recommended a downgrading of Ecstasy from Class A to Class B, as well as moves towards a policy of 'harm reduction', which Cameron defended.[87]
Cameron determinedly attempted to increase his public visibility, offering quotations on matters of public controversy. He opposed the payment of compensation to Gurbux Singh, who had resigned as head of the Commission for Racial Equality after a confrontation with the police;[88] and commented that the Home Affairs Select Committee had taken a long time to discuss whether the phrase "black market" should be used.[89] However, he was passed over for a front-bench promotion in July 2002; Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith did invite Cameron and his ally George Osborne to coach him on Prime Minister's Questions in November 2002. The next week, Cameron deliberately abstained in a vote on allowing same-sex and unmarried couples to adopt children jointly, against a whip to oppose; his abstention was noted.[90] The wide scale of abstentions and rebellious votes destabilised the Duncan Smith leadership.
In June 2003, Cameron was appointed a shadow minister in the Privy Council Office as a deputy to Eric Forth, then Shadow Leader of the House. He also became a vice- chairman of the Conservative Party when Michael Howard took over the leadership in November of that year. He was appointed Opposition frontbench local government spokesman in 2004, before being promoted to the shadow cabinet that June as head of policy co-ordination. Later, he became Shadow Education Secretary in the post-election reshuffle.[91]
From February 2002 to August 2005 he was a non-executive director of Urbium PLC, operator of the Tiger Tiger bar chain.[92]
Leadership of the Conservative Party
Leadership election
Main article: Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005
Following the Labour victory in the May 2005 general election, Michael Howard announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party and set a lengthy timetable for the leadership election. Cameron announced on 29 September 2005 that he would be a candidate. Parliamentary colleagues supporting him included Boris Johnson, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, Shadow Defence Secretary and deputy leader of the party Michael Ancram, Oliver Letwin[93] and former party leader William Hague.[94] His campaign did not gain wide support until his speech, delivered without notes, at the 2005 Conservative Party Conference. In the speech he vowed to make people "feel good about being Conservatives again" and said he wanted "to switch on a whole new generation."[95]
In the first ballot of Conservative MPs on 18 October 2005, Cameron came second, with 56 votes, slightly more than expected; David Davis had fewer than predicted at 62 votes; Liam Fox came third with 42 votes; andKenneth Clarke was eliminated with 38 votes. In the second ballot on 20 October 2005, Cameron came first with 90 votes; David Davis was second, with 57; and Liam Fox was eliminated with 51 votes.[96] All 198 Conservative MPs voted in both ballots.
The next stage of the election process, between Davis and Cameron, was a vote open to the entire party membership. Cameron was elected with more than twice as many votes as Davis and more than half of all ballots issued; Cameron won 134,446 votes on a 78% turnout, to Davis's 64,398.[97] Although Davis had initially been the favourite, it was widely acknowledged that his candidacy was marred by a disappointing conference speech.[98]Cameron had made a well-received speech without notes (which The Daily Telegraph said "showed a sureness and a confidence that is greatly to his credit").[99] Cameron's election as the Leader of the Conservative Party andLeader of the Opposition was announced on 6 December 2005. As is customary for an Opposition leader not already a member, upon election Cameron became a member of the Privy Council, being formally approved to join on 14 December 2005, and sworn of the Council on 8 March 2006.[100]
Reaction to Cameron as leader
Cameron's relative youth and inexperience before becoming leader have invited satirical comparison with Tony Blair. Private Eye soon published a picture of both leaders on its front cover, with the caption "World's first face transplant a success".[101] On the left, the New Statesman unfavourably likened his "new style of politics" to Tony Blair's early leadership years.[102] Cameron was accused of paying excessive attention to image: ITV Newsbroadcast footage from the 2006 Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth showing him wearing four different sets of clothes within a few hours.[103] Cameron was characterised in a Labour Party political broadcast as "Dave the Chameleon", who would change what he said to match the expectations of his audience. Cameron later claimed that the broadcast had become his daughter's "favourite video".[104] He has also been described by comedy writer and broadcaster Charlie Brooker as being "like a hollow Easter egg with no bag of sweets inside" in his Guardian column.[105]
On the right, Norman Tebbit, former Chairman of the Conservative Party, likened Cameron to Pol Pot, "intent on purging even the memory of Thatcherism before building a New Modern Compassionate Green Globally Aware Party".[106] Quentin Davies MP, who defected from the Conservatives to Labour on 26 June 2007, branded him "superficial, unreliable and [with] an apparent lack of any clear convictions" and stated that David Cameron had turned the Conservative Party's mission into a "PR agenda".[107] Traditionalist conservative columnist and author Peter Hitchens has written, "Mr Cameron has abandoned the last significant difference between his party and the established left", by embracing social liberalism.[108] Daily Telegraph correspondent and blogger Gerald Warner has been particularly scathing about Cameron's leadership, arguing that it is alienating traditionalist conservativeelements from the Conservative Party.[109]
Cameron is reported to be known to friends and family as "Dave", though he prefers to use "David'" in public.[110] The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein has condemned those who attempt to belittle Cameron by calling him 'Dave'.[111]
Shadow Cabinet appointments
His Shadow Cabinet appointments included MPs associated with the various wings of the party. Former leader William Hague was appointed to the Foreign Affairs brief, while both George Osborne and David Davis were retained, asShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Shadow Home Secretary respectively. Hague, assisted by Davis, stood in for Cameron during his paternity leave in February 2006.[112] In June 2008 Davis announced his intention to resign as an MP, and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary by Dominic Grieve, the surprise move was seen as a challenge to the changes introduced under Cameron's leadership.[113]
In January 2009 a reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet was undertaken. The chief change was the appointment of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke as Shadow Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Secretary, David Cameron stating that "With Ken Clarke's arrival, we now have the best economic team." The reshuffle saw eight other changes made.[114]
European Conservatives and Reformists
During his successful 2005 campaign to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party, Cameron pledged that the Conservative Party's Members of the European Parliament would leave the European People's Party group, which had a "federalist" approach to the European Union.[115] Once elected Cameron began discussions with right-wing and eurosceptic parties in other European countries, mainly in eastern Europe, and in July 2006 he concluded an agreement to form the Movement for European Reform with the Czech Civic Democratic Party, leading to the formation of a new European Parliament group, the European Conservatives and Reformists, in 2009 after the European Parliament elections.[116] Cameron attended a gathering at Warsaw's Palladium cinema celebrating the foundation of the alliance.[117]
In forming the caucus, which had 54 MEPs drawn from eight of the 27 EU member states, Cameron reportedly broke with two decades of Conservative cooperation with the centre-right Christian Democrats, the European People's Party (EPP),[118] on the grounds that they are dominated by European federalists and supporters of the Lisbon treaty.[118] EPP leader Wilfried Martens, formerprime minister of Belgium, has stated "Cameron's campaign has been to take his party back to the centre in every policy area with one major exception: Europe. ... I can't understand his tactics. Merkel and Sarkozy will never accept his Euroscepticism."[118] The left-wing New Statesman magazine reported that the US administration had "concerns about Cameron among top members of the team" and quoted David Rothkopf in saying that the issue "makes Cameron an even more dubious choice to be Britain's next prime minister than he was before and, should he attain that post, someone about whom the Obama administration ought to be very cautious."[119]
Shortlists for Parliamentary Candidates
Similarly, Cameron's initial "A-List" of prospective parliamentary candidates was attacked by members of his party,[120] and the policy was discontinued in favour of sex-balanced final shortlists. Before being discontinued, the policy had been criticised by senior Conservative MP and former Prisons Spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe as an "insult to women", and she had accused Cameron of "storing up huge problems for the future."[121][122] The plans led to conflict in some constituencies, including the widely reported resignation of Joanne Cash, a close friend of Cameron, as candidate in the constituency of Westminster North following a dispute described as "a battle for the soul of the Tory Party".[122]
2010 general election
Main articles: United Kingdom general election, 2010 and 2010 United Kingdom government formation
The Conservatives had last won a general election in 1992. The general election of 2010 resulted in the Conservatives, led by Cameron, winning the largest number of seats (306). This was, however, 20 seats short of an overall majority and resulted in the nation's first hung parliament since February 1974.[123] Talks between Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg led to an agreed Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition.
Prime Minister
Main article: Premiership of David Cameron
On 11 May 2010, following the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and on his recommendation, Elizabeth II invited Cameron to form a government.[124] At age 43, Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool, who was appointed in 1812.[4] In his first address outside 10 Downing Street, he announced his intention to form a coalition government, the first since the Second World War, with the Liberal Democrats.
Cameron outlined how he intended to "put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and for the national interest."[4] As one of his first moves Cameron appointed Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, as Deputy Prime Minister on 11 May 2010.[124] Between them, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats control 363 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 76 seats.[125] On 2 June 2010, when Cameron took his first session of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) as Prime Minister, he began by offering his support and condolences to those affected by the shootings in Cumbria.[126]
On 5 February 2011, Cameron criticised the failure of 'state multiculturalism', in his first speech as PM on radicalisation and the causes of terrorism.[127]
He was also the first prime minister in over a 100 years to lose a foreign policy vote in the House of Commons in regards to the Syrian civil war's Ghouta chemical attack. Amongst other notables, he agreed to holding the Scottish independence referendum, 2014 and eliminated the "devomax" option from the ballot for a straight out yes or no vote. Furthermore, Cameron was the first foreign leader to visit Jaffna since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war.[128][129]
Policies and views
Main article: Political positions of David Cameron
Self-description of views
Cameron describes himself as a "modern compassionate conservative" and has spoken of a need for a new style of politics, saying that he was "fed up with the Punch and Judy politics of Westminster".[130] He has stated that he is "certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite."[131] He has also claimed to be a "liberal Conservative", and "not a deeply ideological person."[132] As Leader of the Opposition, Cameron stated that he did not intend to oppose the government as a matter of course, and would offer his support in areas of agreement. He has urged politicians to concentrate more on improving people's happiness and "general well-being", instead of focusing solely on "financial wealth".[133] There have been claims that he described himself to journalists at a dinner during the leadership contest as the "heir to Blair".[134]
Shortly after becoming Conservative leader, Cameron gave a speech to the 2006 Conservative Conference in Bournemouth in which he described the National Health Service as "one of the 20th Century's greatest achievements". He went on to say, "Tony Blairexplained his priorities in three words: education, education, education. I can do it in three letters: N.H.S." He also talked about his severely disabled son, concluding "So, for me, it is not just a question of saying the NHS is safe in my hands – of course it will be. My family is so often in the hands of the NHS, so I want them to be safe there."[135]
He believes that British Muslims have a duty to integrate into British culture, but notes that they find aspects such as high divorce rates and drug use uninspiring, and that "Not for the first time, I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around."[136] In 2010 he appointed the first Muslim member of the British cabinet, Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, as a minister without portfolio, and in 2012 made her a special minister of state in foreign affairs. She resigned however in August 2014 over the government's handling of the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.
Daniel Finkelstein has said of the period leading up to Cameron's election as leader of the Conservative party that "a small group of us (myself, David Cameron, George Osborne, Michael Gove, Nick Boles, Nick Herbert I think, once or twice) used to meet up in the offices of Policy Exchange, eat pizza, and consider the future of the Conservative Party".[137]
Cameron co-operated with Dylan Jones, giving him interviews and access, to enable him to produce the book Cameron on Cameron.[138]
Prior to its legalisation, Cameron advocated for legalising same-sex marriage. The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was later successfully introduced by one of his ministers.[139]
Parliamentary votes
During November 2001, Cameron voted to modify legislation allowing people detained at a police station to be fingerprinted and searched for an identifying birthmark to be applicable only in connection with a terrorism investigation.[140] In March 2002, he voted against banning the hunting of wild mammals with dogs,[141] being an occasional hunter himself.[142] In April 2003, he voted against the introduction of a bill to ban smoking in restaurants.[143] In June 2003, he voted against NHS Foundation Trusts.[144] Also in 2003, he voted to keep the controversial Section 28 clause.[145]
In March 2003, he voted against a motion that the case had not yet been made for the Iraq War,[146] and then supported using "all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction".[147] In October 2003, however, he voted in favour of setting up a judicial inquiry into the Iraq War.[148] In October 2004 he voted in favour of the Civil Partnership Bill.[149] In February 2005, he voted in favour of changing the text in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill from "The Secretary of State may make a control order against an individual" to "The Secretary of State may apply to the court for a control order ..."[150] In October 2005, he voted against theIdentity Cards Bill.[151]
Criticism of other parties and politicians
Cameron criticised Gordon Brown (when Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer) for being "an analogue politician in a digital age" and referred to him as "the roadblock to reform".[152] He has also said that John Prescott"clearly looks a fool" in light of allegations of ministerial misconduct.[153] During a speech to the Ethnic Media Conference on 29 November 2006, Cameron also described Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, as an "ageing far left politician" in reference to Livingstone's views on multiculturalism.[154]
Since becoming prime minister, he has reacted to press reports that Brown could be the next head of the International Monetary Fund by hinting that he may block Brown from being appointed to the role, citing the huge national debt that Brown left the country with as a reason for Brown not being suitable for the role.[155]
Cameron has accused the UK Independence Party of being "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, mostly,"[156] leading UKIP leader Nigel Farage to demand an apology for the remarks. Right-wing Conservative MP Bob Spink, who later defected to UKIP, also criticised the remarks,[157] as did The Daily Telegraph.[158]
Cameron was seen encouraging Conservative MPs to join the standing ovation given to Tony Blair at the end of his last Prime Minister's Question Time; he had paid tribute to the "huge efforts" Blair had made and said Blair had "considerable achievements to his credit, whether it is peace in Northern Ireland or his work in the developing world, which will endure".[159]
In 2006, Cameron made a speech in which he described extremist Islamic organisations and the British National Party as "mirror images" to each other, both preaching "creeds of pure hatred".[160] Cameron is listed as being a supporter of Unite Against Fascism.[161]
Cameron in late 2009 urged the Lib Dems to join the Conservatives in a new "national movement" arguing there was "barely a cigarette paper" between them on a large number of issues. The invitation was rejected by the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, who attacked Cameron at the start of his party's annual conference in Bournemouth, saying that the Conservatives were totally different from his party and that the Lib Dems were the true "progressives" in UK politics.[162]
Political commentary
Allegations of social elitism
While Leader of the Conservative Party, Cameron has been accused of reliance on "old-boy networks,[163] and conversely attacked by his party for the imposition of selective shortlists of women and ethnic minority prospective parliamentary candidates.[120]
Cameron's two most senior appointments to date, that of George Osborne as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Boris Johnson as Conservative Party candidate for Mayor of London have been former members of theBullingdon Club. The Guardian has accused Cameron of relying on "the most prestigious of old-boy networks in his attempt to return the Tories to power", pointing out that three members of his shadow cabinet and 15 members of his front bench team were "Old Etonians".[163] Similarly, The Sunday Times has commented that "David Cameron has more Etonians around him than any leader since Macmillan" and asked whether he can "represent Britain from such a narrow base."[164] Former Labour cabinet minister Hazel Blears has said of Cameron, "You have to wonder about a man who surrounds himself with so many people who went to the same school. I'm pretty sure I don't want 21st-century Britain run by people who went to just one school."[165] However, some of the claims of an over-reliance on one school have been disputed. The writer Michael Mosbacher says that Cameron's Cabinet has the lowest number of Etonians of any past Conservative government: "David Cameron's government is the least patrician, least wealthy and least public-school-educated — indeed the least Etonian — Conservative-led government this country has ever seen".[166]
Some supporters of the party have accused Cameron's government of cronyism on the front benches. Sir Tom Cowie, working-class founder of Arriva and former Conservative donor, ceased his donations in August 2007 due to disillusionment with Cameron's leadership, saying, "the Tory party seems to be run now by Old Etonians and they don't seem to understand how other people live." In reply, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, himself educated at Yorkshire state schools, said that when a party was changing, "there will always be people who are uncomfortable with that process".[167]
In a response to Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions in December 2009, Gordon Brown addressed the Conservative Party's inheritance tax policy, saying it "seems to have been dreamed up on the playing fields of Eton". This led to open discussion of "class war" by the mainstream media and leading politicians of both major parties, with speculation that the 2010 general election campaign would see the Labour Party highlight the backgrounds of senior Conservative politicians.[168]
Raising teaching standards
At the launch of the Conservative Party's education manifesto in January 2010, Cameron declared an admiration for the "brazenly elitist" approach to education of countries such as Singapore and South Korea and expressed a desire to "elevate the status of teaching in our country".[169] He suggested the adoption of more stringent criteria for entry to teaching and offered repayment of the loans of maths and science graduates obtaining first or 2.1 degrees from "good" universities.[170]
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said "The message that the Conservatives are sending to the majority of students is that if you didn't go to a university attended by members of the Shadow Cabinet, they don't believe you're worth as much."[171] Chris Keates, head of teaching union NASUWT, responded to the manifesto as a whole by saying that teachers would be left "shocked, dismayed and demoralised" and warned of the potential for strikes as a result.[172]
South Africa
In April 2009, The Independent reported that in 1989, while Nelson Mandela remained imprisoned under the apartheid régime, David Cameron had accepted a trip to South Africa paid for by an anti-sanctions lobby firm. A spokesperson for Cameron responded by saying that the Conservative Party was at that time opposed to sanctions against South Africa and that his trip was a fact-finding mission. However, the newspaper reported that Cameron's then superior at Conservative Research Department called the trip "jolly", saying that "it was all terribly relaxed, just a little treat, a perk of the job. The Botha regime was attempting to make itself look less horrible, but I don't regard it as having been of the faintest political consequence." Cameron distanced himself from his party's history of opposing sanctions against the regime. He was criticised by Labour MP Peter Hain, himself an anti-apartheid campaigner.[173]
Iraq war
In an interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 23 June 2006, Cameron said that he supported the decision of the then Labour Government to go to war in Iraq, and said that he thought supporters should "see it through".[174] He also supported a motion brought by the SNP and Plaid Cymru on 31 October 2006 calling for an inquiry into the government's conduct of the Iraq war. In 2011, he oversaw the withdrawal of British soldiers from Iraq. In 2013, it was reported that he had blocked the publication of an Iraq inquiry report, known as the Chilcot Inquiry Report,[175] but in early May 2014, it was reported that he has demanded that the Chilcot Inquiry Report be published before the end of the year, and that he had told the cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood (a non-politically appointed senior member of the Civil Service), that "his patience is wearing thin", and it was claimed that former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Labour "want to delay the report until after the election next year to avoid any criticisms affecting their campaign".[176]
Later in the same month, it was reported that the delays to publishing the Chilcot Inquiry Report were due to negotiations over the publication of private communications between Tony Blair and then-US president George W. Bush.[177] David Cameron was reported to have told Sky News: "My understanding is that they will be able to publish before the end of the year and I very much hope they can deliver on that timetable. The public wants to see the answers of the inquiry and I think we shouldn't have to wait too much longer".[177]
NATO military intervention in Libya
See also: Operation Ellamy
.jpg)
Libya–United Kingdom relations soured in 2011 with the outbreak of the Libyan Civil War. Cameron condemned the "appalling and unacceptable" violence used against anti-Gaddafi protesters.[178] After weeks of lobbying by the UK and its allies, on 17 March 2011 the United Nations Security Council approved a no-fly zone to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi rebels.[179] Two days later the UK and the United States fired more than 110 Tomahawk missiles at targets in Libya.[180]
Cameron has said he is "proud" of the role United Kingdom played in the overthrow of Gaddafi's government.[181] Cameron also stated that UK had played "a very important role" in the military intervention and that Libya is not "going to be an enormous swamp of Islamists and extremists."[182]
Sri Lanka
Cameron reiterated calls for an independent investigation into the alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War.[183] "There needs to be proper inquiries into what happened at the end of the war, there needs to be proper human rights, democracy for the Tamil minority in that country" Cameron stated.[184][185] He stated that if this investigation wasn't completed by March 2014 he would press for an independent international inquiry.[186][187][188] This followed a visit to Jaffna, a war-ravaged town in the northern part of Sri Lanka; Cameron was the first foreign leader to visit Jaffna since the island once colonised by Britain became independent in 1948.[128][189] Cameron was mobbed by demonstrators, mostly women, seeking his assistance in tracing missing relatives.[129][190]
Turkey and Israel
In a speech in Ankara in July 2010, Cameron stated unequivocally his support for Turkey's accession to the EU, citing economic, security and political considerations, and claimed that those who opposed Turkish membership were driven by "protectionism, narrow nationalism or prejudice".[191][192] In that speech, he was also critical of Israeli action during the Gaza flotilla raid and its Gaza policy, and repeated his opinion that Israel had turned Gaza into a "prison camp",[191] having previously referred to Gaza as "a giant open prison".[193] These views were met with mixed reactions.[194][195][196]
At the end of May 2011, Cameron stepped down as patron of the Jewish National Fund,[197][198] becoming the first British prime minister not to be patron of the charity in the 110 years of its existence.[199]
Despite these events, David Cameron is perhaps the most outspoken supporter of Israel in a whole generation of PMs. In a speech in 2011 Cameron said: "You have a Prime Minister whose commitment and determination to work for peace in Israel is deep and strong. Britain will continue to push for peace, but will always stand up for Israel against those who wish her harm". He said he wanted to reaffirm his "unshakable" belief in Israel within the same message.[200] He also voiced his opposition to the Goldstone Report, claiming it had been biased against Israel and not enough blame had been placed on Hamas.
In March 2014, during his first visit to Israel as Prime Minister, Cameron addressed Israel's Knesset in Jerusalem, where he offered his full support for peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians, hoping a two state solution might be achieved.[201] He also made clear his rejection of trade or academic boycotts against Israel,[202] acknowledged Israel's right to defend its citizens as "a right enshrined in international law," and made note of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, as "the moment when the State of Israel went from a dream to a plan, Britain has played a proud and vital role in helping to secure Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people."[201] During his two-day visit, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.[203]
LGBT rights
David Cameron was given a score of 36% in favour of lesbian, gay and bisexual equality by Stonewall in 2010.[204] Cameron voted to retain Section 28 and voted against gay adoption, but he supported commitment for gay couples in a 2005 speech, and in October 2011 urged Conservative MPs to support gay marriage. In a keynote speech in Manchester he said that he backed gay marriage not in spite of his conservatism but because he is a conservative, and claimed it was about equality.[205] However, Cameron opposes equality for heterosexuals to be able to enter into civil partnerships.[206]
In December 2012 he stated that he wanted to give religious groups the ability to host gay marriage ceremonies, and that he did not want to exclude gay people from a "great institution".[207] In November 2012, Cameron and Nick Clegg agreed to fast-track legislation for introducing same-sex marriage.[208] In 2013, the Bill was presented to the House of Commons and less than 50% of Conservative MPs backed his proposals for gay marriage including his own cabinet ministers Owen Paterson and David Jones.[209]
In August 2013, he rejected calls by Stephen Fry to strip Russia from hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics due to its anti-gay laws.[210] Cameron did not attend the games but denied it was a boycott in protest at Russia's laws, having previously raised the issue of gay rights in the country with Vladimir Putin.[211]
Immigration
Cameron said immigration from outside the EU should be subject to annual limits. He said: "... in the last decade we have had an immigration policy that's completely lax. The pressure it puts on our public services and communities is too great."[212] In a 2013 news story, The Independent reported, "The increase was noted as Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May said they wanted to reduce net migration from non-EU countries to less than 100,000 before the next election in 2015. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that approximately 176,000 migrants entered the UK in the year to December 2012, up from 153,000 in the year to September 2012."[213]
Allegations of recreational drug use
During the leadership election, allegations were made that Cameron had used cannabis and cocaine recreationally before becoming an MP.[214] Pressed on this point during the BBC television programme Question Time, Cameron expressed the view that everybody was allowed to "err and stray" in their past.[215] During his 2005 Conservative leadership campaign he addressed the question of drug consumption by remarking that "I did lots of things before I came into politics which I shouldn't have done. We all did."[215]
Cameron and Andy Coulson
In 2007 Cameron appointed Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World, as his director of communications. Coulson had resigned as the paper's editor following the conviction of a reporter in relation to illegal phone hacking, although stating that he knew nothing about it.[216][217] In June 2010 Downing Street confirmed Coulson's annual salary as £140,000, the highest pay of any special adviser to UK Government.[218]
In January 2011 Coulson left his post, saying coverage of the phone-hacking scandal was making it difficult to give his best to the job.[216] In July 2011 he was arrested and questioned by police in connection with further allegations of illegal activities at the News of the World, and released on bail. Despite a call to apologise for hiring Coulson by the leader of the opposition Ed Miliband, Cameron defended the appointment, saying that he had taken a conscious choice to give someone who had screwed up a second chance.[219]On 20 July, in a special parliamentary session at the House of Commons, arranged to discuss the News of the World phone hacking scandal, Cameron said that he "regretted the furore" that had resulted from his appointment of Coulson, and that "with hindsight" he would not have hired him.[220] Coulson was detained and charged with perjury by Strathclyde Police on 30 May 2012.[221][222] Coulson was convicted of conspiracy to hack phones in June 2014. Prior to the jury handing down their verdict, Cameron issued a "full and frank" apology for hiring him, saying "I am extremely sorry that I employed him. It was the wrong decision and I am very clear about that." The judge hearing Coulson's trial was critical of the prime minister, pondering whether the intervention was out of ignorance or deliberate, and demanded an explanation.[223]
Cameron and Lord Ashcroft
Although Lord Ashcroft played a significant role in the 2010 election, he wasn't offered a ministerial post.[224] In June 2012, shortly before a major Tory rebellion on House of Lords reform,[225] journalist Peter Oborne credited Ashcroft with "stopping the Coalition working" by moving policy on Europe, welfare, education, taxation to the right.[224] According to Oborne, Ashcroft, owner of both the ConservativeHome and PoliticsHome websites and a "brutal critic of the Coalition from the start", had established "megaphone presence" in the on-line media. He believes Cameron's philosophy of liberal conservatism has been destroyed by "coordinated attacks on the Coalition" and "the two parties are no longer trying to pretend that they are governing together."[224] In the Observer,Andrew Rawnsley believes that Ashcroft uses carefully timed opinion polls to "generate publicity", "stir trouble for the prime minister" and influence the direction of the party.[226]
Plots against leadership
In the 2012 local elections, the Conservative Party's share of the vote fell from 35% to 31%, losing control of several councils including Plymouth, Southampton, Harlow, Redditch, Worcester and Great Yarmouth, after a difficult few months for the government which included the Budget, the cash-for-access scandal and the Jeremy Hunt scandal, with Labour increasing its lead in the polls. Many Conservative MPs spoke out because of this, and Nadine Dorries warned the Prime Minister that a leadership challenge could happen.[227]
David Davies also joined in the criticism of Cameron's leadership "incompetence at the highest levels of Government". In the summer, chatter continued after the House of Lords reform rebellion and the resurgence of Boris Johnson during the 2012 Olympics. It was revealed that Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith had been talking about a possible leadership challenge to the Prime Minister, through a resignation from Goldsmith over airports policy, opening up a by-election for Johnson to stand.[228] Colonel Bob Stewart revealed that two Tory MPs had asked him to stand as a stalking-horse candidate against the Prime Minister. It was also revealed that the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, had received letters from 14 Tory MPs calling for a 'vote of no confidence' in the Prime Minister, and Patrick Mercer was one of the signatories.[citation needed]
Later that year, Brian Binley openly said that Cameron's leadership was like being a 'maid' to the Liberal Democrats, and accused him of leading the party to defeat. In January 2013 it was revealed that Adam Afriyie was planning his own bid for the Tory leadership with the support of fellow MPs Mark Field, Bill Wiggin, Chris Heaton-Harris, Priti Patel, Jonathan Djanogly and Dan Byles. In the same month, The Times and ConservativeHomerevealed that a 'rebel reserve' of 55 Tory MPs had given firm pledges to a coordinating MP to support a motion of 'no confidence' and write to Brady simultaneously, which would be enough MPs to trigger a vote of no confidence as the level of MPs needed to trigger such vote is 46.[229] After the Conservative Party came third in the Eastleigh by-election, one of its target seats, it was revealed that 25 MPs were considering joining calls for a vote of no confidence by the summer. Theresa May was seen as a potential challenger for the leadership, after her speech to a ConservativeHome conference in March 2013.
In the county council elections in May 2013, the Conservatives suffered large losses in key heartland territory, while UKIP began to rise. As a result, some county councillors and former councillors went out of their way to attack the Prime Minister and even called for him to step down. Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, said that he would enter into an electoral pact with the Conservative Party in 2015 on condition that David Cameron stepped down as leader. Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg and Peter Bone called for a pact, and Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan called for a 'Unite The Right' alliance in spite of what Farage said. In June 2013, Andrew Bridgen publicly called for David Cameron's resignation and wrote a letter calling for a 'vote of no confidence' in the Prime Minister's leadership. In 2014, Norman Tebbit called for David Cameron to resign before the 2015 General Election and asked Conservative MPs to support a 'vote of no confidence'.
.jpg)
Defence cuts
In 2014, Cameron dismissed warnings that his cuts to the UK defence budget had left it less than a "first class-player in terms of defence" and no longer a "full partner" to the United States.[230]
Cameron has continued to push Britain's arms and related exports, including sniper rifles to Russia and chemical weapons precursors to Syria.[231]
Antibiotic resistance
In 2014, Cameron commissioned an economist to study the growing spread of antibiotic resistance.[232]
Standing in opinion polls
In the first month of Cameron's leadership, the Conservative Party's standing in opinion polls rose, with several pollsters placing it ahead of the ruling Labour Party. While the Conservative and Labour Parties drew even in early spring 2006, following the May 2006 local elections various polls once again generally showed Conservative leads.[233][234]
When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, Labour moved ahead and its ratings grew steadily at Cameron's expense, an ICM poll[235] in July showing Labour with a seven-point lead in the wake of controversies over his policies. An ICM poll[236][237] in September saw Cameron rated the least popular of the three main party leaders. A YouGov poll for Channel 4 one week later, after the Labour Party Conference, extended the Labour lead to 11 points, prompting further speculation of an early election.[238]
Following the Conservative Party Conference in the first week of October 2007, the Conservatives drew level with Labour.[239] When Brown declared he would not call an election for the autumn,[240] a decline in his and Labour's standings followed. At the end of the year a series of polls showed improved support for the Conservatives giving them an 11-point lead over Labour. This decreased slightly in early 2008,[241] and in March the Conservatives had their largest lead in opinion polls since October 1987, at 16 points.[242] In May 2008, following the worst local election performance from the Labour Party in 40 years, the Conservative lead was up to 26 points, the largest since 1968.[243]
In December 2008, a ComRes poll showed the Conservative lead had decreased dramatically,[244] though by February 2009 it had recovered to reach 12 points.[245] A period of relative stability in the polls was broken in mid-December 2009, and by January 2010 some polls were predicting a hung parliament[246]
A YouGov poll on party leaders conducted on 9–10 June 2011 found 44% of the electorate thought he was doing well and 50% thought he was doing badly, whilst 38% thought he would be the best PM, 23% preferred Ed Miliband and 35% didn't know.[247]
Until his veto on treaty changes to the European Union in December 2011 amid the Eurozone crisis, most opinion polls that year had shown a slim Labour lead. Many opinion polls showed that the majority of voters felt that Cameron made the right decision. Subsequent opinion polls have shown a narrow lead for the Conservatives ahead of Labour.[248]
A 2013 Mumsnet poll found that British women saw Cameron out of touch with the issues that matter to them with a resulting sharp decline in support for the Tories due to his policies.[249]
Personal life
Cameron is married to Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield, the daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones (now Viscountess Astor). A Marlborough College school friend of Cameron's sister Clare, Samantha accepted Clare's invitation to accompany the Cameron family on holiday in Tuscany, Italy, after graduating from Bristol School of Creative Arts. It was then David and Samantha's romance started. They were wed on 1 June 1996 at the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury, East Hendred, Oxfordshire, five years before he became an MP.[7]
The Camerons have had four children. Their first, Ivan Reginald Ian, was born on 8 April 2002 in Hammersmith and Fulham, London,[250] with a rare combination of cerebral palsy and a form of severe epilepsy called Ohtahara syndrome, requiring round-the-clock care. Recalling the receipt of this news, Cameron was quoted as saying: "The news hits you like a freight train ... You are depressed for a while because you are grieving for the difference between your hopes and the reality. But then you get over that, because he's wonderful."[251] He was cared for at the specialist NHS Cheyne Day Centre in West London, which closed shortly after Ivan left it.[252] Ivan died at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, on 25 February 2009, aged six.[253]
The Camerons have two daughters, Nancy Gwen (born 2004), and Florence Rose Endellion (born 24 August 2010),[254] and a son, Arthur Elwen (born 2006).[255] Cameron took paternity leave when his second son was born, and this decision received broad coverage.[256] It was also stated that Cameron would be taking paternity leave after his second daughter was born.[254] His second daughter, Florence Rose Endellion, was born on 24 August 2010, three weeks prematurely, while the family was on holiday in Cornwall. Her third given name, Endellion, is taken from the village of St Endellion near where the Camerons were holidaying.[257][258]
An estimate of his worth is £3.2 million, though this figure excludes the million-pound legacies Cameron is expected to inherit from both sides of his family.[259]
In early May 2008, David Cameron decided to enrol his daughter Nancy at a state school. The Camerons had been attending its associated church,[260] which is near the Cameron family home in North Kensington, for three years.[261] Cameron's constituency home is in Dean, Oxfordshire, and the Camerons are key members of the Chipping Norton set.[262]
On 8 September 2010, it was announced that Cameron would miss Prime Minister's Questions in order to fly to southern France to see his father, Ian Cameron, who had suffered a stroke with coronary complications. Later that day, with David and other family members at his bedside, Ian died.[263] On 17 September 2010, Cameron attended a private ceremony for the funeral of his father in Berkshire, which prevented him from hearing the address ofthe Pope to Westminster Hall, an occasion he would otherwise have attended.[264]
Cameron supports Aston Villa Football Club.[265] Cameron is also a keen cricket fan and has appeared on Test Match Special.[266]
Cycling
Before becoming prime minister, Cameron regularly used his bicycle to commute to work. In early 2006, he was photographed cycling to work, followed by his driver in a car carrying his belongings. His Conservative Party spokesperson subsequently said that this was a regular arrangement for Cameron at the time.[267] Cameron's bicycle was stolen in July 2008 while he was shopping; it was recovered a few days later with the aid of The Sunday Mirror.[268] His bicycle was stolen again in May 2009 from near his house.[269] Cameron is an occasional jogger and in 2009 raised funds for charities by taking part in the Oxford 5K and the Great Brook Run.[270]
Faith
At a Q&A in August 2013 Cameron described himself as a practising Christian and an active member of the Church of England.[271] On religious faith in general he has said: "I do think that organised religion can get things wrong but the Church of England and the other churches do play a very important role in society."[272] He says he considers the Bible "a sort of handy guide" on morality.[273] He views Britain as a "Christian country" putting faith back into politics
No comments:
Post a Comment