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The Right Honourable David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician, Leader of the Conservative Party, and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the House of Commons. He is Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney.
Early life and career
Cameron was brought up near Wantage in Oxfordshire, England, the son of stockbroker Ian Donald Cameron. He was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. His tutor at Oxford, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, described him as "one of the ablest" students he has taught, whose political views were "moderate and sensible Conservative". While at Oxford he was a member of socially exclusive student dining society the Bullingdon Club, famous for its members' wealth and destructive binges. He graduated in 1988 with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Cameron worked for the Conservative Research Department between 1988 and 1992. He spent two days a week of that in Downing Street on the Prime Minister's Question Time briefing team. After the election he became a Special Advisor to the Conservative government, first at the Treasury (working for Norman Lamont at the time of Black Wednesday) and then the Home Office, where he worked for Michael Howard.
Between 1994 and 2001 he was the Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications and until August 2005 he was a non-executive director of Urbium PLC, operator of the Tiger Tiger bar chain.
Family
He married Samantha Sheffield in 1996; they have two children and his wife is currently pregnant with their third. Their first child, Ivan, was born with cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy. Cameron is quoted as saying regarding the news of his son's disabilities: "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."
David Cameron is the cousin of the Conservative political journalist and editor Sir Ferdinand Mount, 3rd Baronet and the grandson of Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet. Through the Mounts, he is related to many British aristocratic families, being descended from the 7th Earl of Denbigh, the 1st Earl of Ducie, the 1st Earl of Carnarvon, the 2nd Earl of Egremont, the 6th Duke of Somerset and the 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, as discussed here. He is also related to the British Royal Family by descent through his paternal grandmother from King William IV. He is a fifth cousin, twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II. He is also a descendant of the 1st Marquess of Montrose, as well as of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, the daughter of King James I.
His wife is a descendant of King Charles II and Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, as well a descendant of King Charles II via his daughter by Moll Davies. She is also a descendant of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany .
Parliamentary career
Cameron's first attempt to reach Parliament was as the Conservative candidate for Stafford at the 1997 general election, but he was defeated by the Labour candidate David Kidney. He was selected as the Conservative candidate for Witney for the 2001 general election, succeeding the former Conservative MP Shaun Woodward who had defected to the Labour Party. He won the seat for the Conservatives winning 22,153 votes (45.0%), a 7,973 majority. At the 2005 election he increased his vote to 26,571 (49.30%), a majority of 14,156.
Cameron, who made his maiden speech on 28 June 2001 , rose quickly through the Conservative ranks. He was appointed a Shadow Minister, Privy Council Office — part of the frontbench team shadowing the Leader of the House of Commons — in June 2003 and promoted in March 2004 to Shadow Minister for Local Government. In June 2004, he became Head of Policy Co-ordination for the Conservative Party, and since September 2004 has been a member of the Shadow Cabinet. He was heavily involved in the drafting of the Conservative manifesto for the 2005 general election. In May 2005, in the post-election reshuffle, he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills. In this post he focused on urging the use of synthetic phonics in teaching (a policy subsequently adopted by the government), calling for a review of the closure of Special Schools and "returning integrity" to examinations. Cameron has been a loyal follower of the Conservative Whip whilst an MP and in common with his party he supported the Iraq war.
Party leadership election
Following the Labour victory in the May 2005 General Election, Michael Howard announced his resignation as Conservative leader, and set a lengthy timetable for the leadership election to choose his successor, partly to accommodate an attempt to reform the leadership election procedure (which was eventually rejected).
Cameron formally announced that he would be a candidate for the vacancy on 29 September 2005. He gained support from many colleagues including Boris Johnson, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, then Shadow Defence Secretary and deputy Conservative leader Michael Ancram, Oliver Letwin and former party leader William Hague. Despite this prior to the 2005 Conservative Party Conference his campaign had not yet gained significant support. However his speech (delivered without notes, as is his habit) proved a significant turning point in the contest. In the speech he vowed to make people "feel good about being Conservatives again...I want to switch on a whole new generation".
During the leadership election Cameron came under pressure over alleged experience with illegal drugs. At a conference fringe event, when asked if he had taken drugs, he replied: "I had a normal university experience." Pressed on this point during the BBC programme Question Time, he insisted that everyone is allowed to "err and stray" in their past and that everyone is entitled to a private life before politics . He also pointed out that members of the governing Labour Cabinet never answer similar questions when they are put to them.
Cameron's social background (an aristocratic family background and education at Eton) was also commented on during the leadership election, and contrasted with the background of rival contender David Davis, who was brought up on a council estate. Cameron's victory in the leadership election, by that time widely expected based on opinion polls of Conservative Party members, was announced on 6 December 2005, at which point he became the 26th Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, succeeding Michael Howard.
With just four years experience as a Member of Parliament, Cameron is perhaps the most inexperienced parliamentarian to take the leadership of a major British political party since William Pitt the Younger . However, Cameron's experience in politics goes back further than as an MP, having previously worked first for the Conservative Party and then as an adviser in John Major's government. As is customary for Opposition leaders who are not already members (for example Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair and Iain Duncan Smith) he will shortly be sworn into membership of the Privy Council. He was formally approved to join the Privy Council on December 14 2005.
Values and philosophy
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".. He, and others in the so-called "Notting Hill" set ] have sought to focus on issues such as the environment, work-life balance and international development - issues not traditionally seen as priorities for his party, in order to broaden its popularity. Cameron is seen as more liberal on social issues than many of his predecessors, particularly on gay issues, where the Conservative party has often been perceived as stuck in the past by gay rights proponents. In fact, Mr Cameron has made few pronouncements in this area, possibly in order to avoid offending some of the party's more socially conservative members, although in a free vote in 2004 supported the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which gave legal recognition to same-sex couples .
In July 2005 before winning the leadership, in a speech to the Centre for Social Justice he stated "the biggest challenge our country faces is not economic decline, but social decline". He has stated repeatedly that "There is such a thing as society, it's just not the same thing as the state" (a reference to Margaret Thatcher's famous statement "There is no such thing as society"). In order to rebuild what he sees as a broken society he argues that he "wants to set free the voluntary sector and social enterprises to deal with the linked problems that blight so many of our communities, of drug abuse, family breakdown, poor public space, chaotic home environments, high crime." He had previously argued that Conservatives should support parenting classes, but run by the voluntary sector rather than the government .
Cameron's success in the leadership election can be attributed to the feeling that of the candidates he was best placed to renew the Conservative Party in the way that Tony Blair did for the Labour Party. Cameron's relative youth and inexperience on becoming leader also invited repeated comparison with Blair, as has the widespread perception that the Conservatives need to perform a equivalent transformation to that which the Labour Party went through under Blair (which became "New Labour" in particular by ditching the previously totemic Clause Four). Less favourably, Cameron's use of rhetoric, emphasis on style as much as substance, and self-presentation as something of an anti-politician (bringing a "new style of politics") have also been compared to the political style of the early years of Blair's leadership. He and Tony Blair have both denied direct similarities between the two of them, pointing out a difference in beliefs and policies, such as on Europe and taxes. Cameron has been criticised from the right by Peter Hitchens, who has written that "Mr Cameron has abandoned the last significant difference between his party and the established left", by making public services Britain's priority.
Policies
With the next General Election not likely until 2009 or 2010 Cameron has avoided making detailed policy announcements. However he has made statments regarding some policies in the last Conservative manifesto and set out a general approach for the future.
Regarding the the 2005 Conservative Party manifesto he has distanced himself from the Patient Passport that allowed people to opt out of the NHS, taking part of the money to part fund private health care, which he has descibed as "wrong". He also expressed some support for tuition fees in contrast to the manifesto being quoted in The Guardian in November 2005 as saying the "Conservative party's position on university funding needs to change."
Cameron is principly in favour of cutting taxes. He has said that it is "essential to reduce taxes on employment and wealth creation in order to enhance our economy's competitiveness. But I don't think it's sensible today to write a Conservative budget for 2009 or 2010, with specific pledges on tax reduction".
He has also supported drug law review, and its possible reform, on the grounds that the current approach does not work . Cameron voted for recommendation 24 of the Home Affairs Select Committee report: 'The Government's Drugs Policy: Is It Working?' (published on 9 May 2002), which recommended that "the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways — including the possibility of legalisation and regulation — to tackle the global drugs dilemma".
Cameron supports fox-hunting; he has stated that if in power he would give government time for a free vote on the issue.
He voted in favour of the Iraq war in common with his party. He has also expressed support for Israel describing it as "a lone democracy in a region that currently boasts no others." .
Actions and initiatives
After being elected party leader, Cameron indicated that he did not intend to oppose the government as a matter of course, offering his support for key areas such as education reform. This is a change from traditional attitudes in Opposition, where the Opposition votes to defeat the government on almost any issue as a matter of policy. The consensus approach is seen by commentators as an attempt to increase divisions in the Labour Party over further Blairite reforms. Cameron, however, has stated that it is simply in a bid to help end the "Punch and Judy" politics he dislikes. It has also been described by commentators as an attempt to show that the Conservatives are occupying the centre ground (in an attempt to attract Conservative voters who had moved over to Labour): Cameron's jibe to Tony Blair that he 'was the future once', demonstrates that he sees himself in following in the path to government that Blair had followed ten years earlier.
Immediately after his election as leader, he restated his pledge to withdraw the party's MEPs from the cooperation with the European People's Party within the European Parliament, viewing the EPP as excessively federalist. Cameron aims to set up a new grouping more focused on Conservative views, a move that has been resisted by some Conservative MEPs because of fears that such a move will reduce the party's influence in the European Parliament.
As leader, Cameron has launched an 18-month policy review under the heading Quality of Life Challenge, under the chairmanship of John Gummer, covering a series of issues including climate change, urban landscape, traffic jams, and affordable housing .
His Shadow Cabinet appointments have been seen as succesful in bringing together a broad range of talents from both wings of the party. The appointment of William Hague, a former party leader, to the Foreign Affairs brief and the retention of defeated rival David Davis as Shadow Home Secretary have been particularly welcomed in the press and the party.
During the first month of his leadership, David Cameron received a welcome polling boost, with several pollsters putting the Conservative Party ahead of the ruling Labour party by margins of 1 to 9 points.
See also
External links
- David Cameron MP official site
- Campaign for David Cameron official Leader of the Conservative Party campaign site
- Conservative Party – David Cameron official biography
- ePolitix.com — David Cameron profile
- Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: David Cameron MP
- David Cameron's Guardian columns (2001-2005) as Conservative Party diarist
- They Work For You – David Cameron MP
- The Public Whip – David Cameron MP voting record
- Open Directory Project — David Cameron directory category
- Privy Council Appointment of David Cameron MP - 10 Downing Street
- News and comment
- BBC News – Head of Shadow Policy Co-Ordination David Cameron profile 10 February, 2005
- Nick Cohen, New Statesman, 8 August 2005, "The birth of Blameron"
- The Independent – Tory contender calls for more liberal drug laws 7 September 2005
- Cameron calls for enterprise-based approach to development
- David Cameron on climate change