British politician, elected Leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005 and the leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom since 4 December 2005.
Following seven years as Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications, being described as “board material” by the company chairman, his first candidacy for Parliament in 1997 ended in defeat. However, he was elected as Member of Parliament in 2001, for the Oxfordshire constituency of
Witney and he assumed office June 7, 2001 with a 14,156 vote majority, or 26 percent of the vote. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years after entering Parliament and rose to head the policy coordination during the 2005 general election campaign. He won the Conservative leadership later in 2005 and his leadership has seen the Conservative Party establish a lead in opinion polls.
Although born in London, Cameron was raised at Peasemore, near Newbury in Berkshire, son of a stockbroker, Ian Donald Cameron, and Mary Fleur Mount, daughter of Sir William Malcolm Mount, 2nd baronet. His father was born in Blairmore House, Aberdeenshire, Scotland built by his maternal grandfather, Alexander Geddes, who returned to Scotland in the 1880s after having made a fortune in the grain business in Chicago. His father’s family had a long history in finance throughout the world in the 20th century. He is a direct descendant of King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan, and thus 5th cousin, twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II through his father’s maternal grandmother Stephanie Levita.
Cameron was educated at Eton College, and did well at the interview for admission to Oxford, and to Brasenose College within Oxford, his first choice. He became captain of the Brasenose tennis team and a member of the student dining society, the Bullingdon Club whose drinking culture was known for damaging property in private rooms hired out to the club. He graduated in 1988 with a first class honors degree.
He and Samantha Sheffield married June 1, 1996, and their first child Ivan Reginald Ian was born April 8, 2002, and had a severe case of epilepsy and cerebral palsy. When informed of the news of his son’s illnesses, Cameron said “You are depressed for a while because you are grieving for the difference between hopes and reality. But then you get over that because he is wonderful!” They also have a daughter Nancy Gwendoline (born January 19, 2004) and another son Arthur Elwen (born February 14, 2006). Cameron took paternity leave when Arthur was born, a decision that received broad news coverage.
After graduation, Cameron worked for the Conservative Research Department from 1988 to 1992. In August 1991 he was tapped to follow Judith Chaplin as political secretary to the Prime Minister. However he lost out in March 1992 to Jonathan Hill and he was given the responsibility for briefing John Major for his 1992 general election press conferences. The Conservatives’ unexpected success in the 1992 election led Cameron to hit back at critics, and he was awarded with being Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont.
Lamont fell out of favor with John Major and the public after an economic crisis called Black Wednesday forced the Pound sterling out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. After Lamont was sacked, Cameron was recruited by Home Secretary Michael Howard.
In July 1994, Cameron left his Special Adviser role to work as Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communication, a growing media company which had won the ITV franchise for London weekdays. He resigned in February 2001 in order to campaign for election to Parliament. On April 4, 2000 Cameron was selected as prospective candidate for Witney, Oxfordshire, a safe Conservative seat, winning the seat with a 2 percent swing to the Conservative party, with a majority of 7,973.
He served on the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Cameron proposing an inquiry into the law on drugs, recommending a downgrading of Ecstasy from class A to class B. In June 2003, Cameron was appointed shadow minister in the Privy Council Office as deputy to Eric Forth who was then Shadow Leader of the House. In addition, from February 2002 until August 2005 he was a non-executive director of Urbium PLC, operator of the Tiger Tiger bar chain.
Following the Labor victory in the May 2005 General Election, Michael Howard announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron announced he would be a candidate for the position on September 29, 2005. Cameron came second with 56 votes on the first ballot 18 October 2005. David Davis was first with less than expected 62 votes, with Liam Fox third with 42 votes. On the second ballot, Cameron came first with 90 votes, David Davis was second with 57 votes, and Liam Fox was eliminated with 51 votes.
The next stage was between Cameron and Davis open to the entire Conservative Party, and Cameron was elected with 134,446 votes, more than twice the number as Davis’ 63,398. His election as Leader of the Conservative Party was announced December 6, 2005. At the time of his election, he had been a Member of Parliament for just over four years, making him the most inexperienced MP to become leader of a major British political party since William Pitt. It is customary for an Opposition Leader to be a member of the Privy Council, and Cameron was so approved on December 14, 2005, and sworn in on March 8, 2006.
Sadly, Cameron’s oldest son Ivan became ill during the night of February 29, 2009. He was rushed to the hospital but passed on 45 minutes later, from seizures caused by a rare form of epilepsy, Ohtahara syndrome. The child was just six years old.
After the elections of May 7, 2010 resulted in no clear party majority, Cameron formed a coalition with Nicholas Clegg that compelled Gordon Brown to step down from his post as Prime Minister. Cameron was then named Prime Minister on May 11, 2010.
He and his wife celebrated the birth of another child, a daughter, born on August 24, 2010 at “around noon” in Truro, England. The child is named Florence Rose Endellion Cameron.
On June 24, 2016, following the British public’s decision to leave the European Union, Cameron announced that he would step down as Prime Minister in October 2016 at the Conservative Party Conference to make way for a new Prime Minister to guide the UK in the new direction for the country.
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