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戴維·卡梅倫(David Cameron,1966年10月9日-),台灣譯作大衛·卡梅倫,港澳譯作甘民樂,英國政治家,現任在野保守黨黨魁,2005年12月6日就任,接替邁克爾·霍華德。
戴維·卡梅倫於英國牛津郡旺蒂奇附近長大。他畢業於伊頓公學,然後於牛津大學布雷齊諾斯學院修讀哲學、政治與經濟。1988年至1992年在保守黨研究部工作。1992年保
守黨選舉后,他成為保守黨政府的顧問,起初在財政部工作,後來在內政部,其上司是邁克爾·霍華德。
1997
年他參加Stafford區的國會選區議員選舉落敗。2001年,
他競逐Witney的席位成功。2003年6月,他被任為影子內閣的樞密院辦事處部長。11月,邁克爾·霍華德成為保守黨黨魁,戴維·卡梅倫成為副黨
魁。
David Cameron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is the
leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the
Opposition in the United Kingdom. He has occupied both positions
since December 2005.
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and
Economics at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. 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.
A first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997
ended in defeat but Cameron was elected in 2001 as the Member of Parliament 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.
Cameron was viewed by some as a young, moderate candidate, who would
appeal to young voters, and in 2005 he won the Conservative
leadership election.[1]
His early leadership saw the Conservative Party establish an opinion
poll lead over Tony Blair's Labour; the first in over ten years. Although they fell
behind shortly thereafter when Gordon
Brown became Prime Minister,[2]
under Cameron's leadership the Conservatives have been consistently
ahead of Labour in the polls.[3]
Background
Family
The son of stockbroker Ian Donald
Cameron and his wife Mary Fleur Mount (daughter of Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet),[4]
David Cameron was born in London, and raised at Peasemore
in Berkshire.[5]
He has a brother, Alec and two sisters, Tania and Clare.[6]
His father was born at Blairmore School near Huntly in Scotland.[7]
The school was built by his great-great-grandfather, Alexander Geddes,[8]
who had made a fortune in the grain business in Chicago and had returned to
Scotland in the 1880s.[9]
The Cameron family were originally from the Inverness
area of the Scottish Highlands.[10]
Cameron's forebears have a long history in finance. His father Ian
was a director of estate agent John D Wood, and the stockbrokers Panmure
Gordon, where his grandfather and great-grandfather also worked.[6]
One great-grandfather, Arthur Francis Levita (brother of Sir
Cecil Levita),[11]
of Panmure Gordon stockbrokers, and great-great-grandfather Sir Ewen Cameron,[10]
London head of the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Bank, played key roles in discussions led by the Rothschilds with the Japanese central banker
(later Prime Minister) Takahashi Korekiyo concerning the selling of war bonds during the Russo-Japanese war.[12]
Another great-grandfather, Ewen Allan Cameron, was a senior partner
with Panmure Gordon stockbrokers and served on the
Council for
Foreign Bondholders,[13]
and the Committee for Chinese Bondholders (set up by the then-Governor of the Bank of England
Montagu Norman in November 1935).[14]
Cameron is a direct descendant of King William IV (great x 5
grandfather) and his mistress Dorothea Jordan (and thus 5th cousin, twice removed of Queen
Elizabeth II)[nb
1] He is the nephew of Sir William Dugdale, once the chairman
of Aston Villa Football Club, and Birmingham-born
documentary film-maker Joshua Dugdale is his cousin.[16]
Education
From age of seven, Cameron attended the private Heatherdown Preparatory School
at Winkfield,
in Berkshire,
which counted Prince Andrew and Prince Edward among its
alumni. The school closed in the early 1980s, and the grounds are now
occupied by the Licensed Victuallers' School.[citation needed].
Cameron was later educated at the private Eton
College, often described as the most famous independent school in the world,[17]
and traditionally referred to as "the chief nurse of England's
statesmen".[18]
He followed his elder brother Alex, who was three years above him;[19]
his early interest was in art.[19]
Cameron is alleged to have faced trouble as a teenager in May 1983, six
weeks before taking his O-levels, when he had allegedly smoked cannabis. Because he admitted the offence and had not been
involved in selling drugs, he was not expelled, but he was fined,
prevented from leaving school grounds, and given a "Georgic" (a punishment which involved copying
500 lines of Latin text).[20]
Cameron recovered from this episode and passed 12 O-levels, and then studied three A-Levels in 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.[21]
He then stayed on to sit the entrance exam for the University of Oxford, which was sat the
following autumn. He passed, did well at interview, and was given a
place at Brasenose College, his first
choice.[22]
After finally leaving Eton just before Christmas 1984, Cameron had
nine months of a gap year before going up to Oxford. In January he
began work as a researcher for Tim
Rathbone, Conservative MP for Lewes and his godfather,
in his Parliamentary office. He was there only for three months, but
used the time to attend debates in the House of Commons.[23]
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 for which no experience was needed but
which gave him some experience of work.[24]
Returning from Hong Kong he visited Moscow and a Yalta beach
in the Soviet Union, and was at one point 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.[25]
Cameron then studied at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, where he read for
a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy,
Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Brasenose College. His tutor at
Oxford, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, described him as "one of
the ablest"[26]
students he has taught, with "moderate and sensible Conservative" political
views.[6]
When commenting in 2006 on his former pupil's ideas about a "bill of
rights" to replace the Human 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".[27]
While at Oxford, Cameron was captain of Brasenose College's tennis
team.[6]
He was also a member of the student dining society the Bullingdon Club, which has a reputation for an outlandish
drinking culture associated with boisterous behaviour and damaging
property.[28]
A photograph showing Cameron in a tailcoat
with other members of the club, including Boris
Johnson, surfaced in 2007, but was later withdrawn by the copyright
holder.[29]
Cameron's period in the Bullingdon Club is examined in the Channel 4 docu-drama When Boris Met Dave broadcast on 7 October 2009.[30]
He also belonged to the Octagon Club,[28]
another dining society. Cameron graduated in 1988 with a first class honours degree.[31]
Cameron is still in touch with many of his former Oxford classmates,
including Boris Johnson and close family friend, the
Reverend James Hand.[32]
Political career
Conservative
Research Department
After graduation, Cameron worked for the Conservative Research
Department between 1988 and 1993. A feature on Cameron in The Mail on Sunday on 18 March 2007 reported that on
the day he was due to attend a job interview at Conservative
Central Office, a phone call was received from Buckingham Palace. The male caller stated, "I understand you
are to see David Cameron. I've tried everything I can to dissuade him
from wasting his time on politics but I have failed. I am ringing to
tell you that you are about to meet a truly remarkable young man."[33]
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,[34]
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.[35]
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.[36]
However, Cameron lost out to Jonathan Hill, who was appointed in
March 1992. He was given the responsibility for briefing John Major for
his press conferences during the 1992 general election.[37]
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,
which had been Major's campaign headquarters during his bid for the
Conservative leadership.[38]
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.[39]
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.[40]
Special adviser
The Conservatives' unexpected success in the 1992 election led
Cameron to hit back at older party members who had criticised him and
his colleagues. He was quoted as saying, the day after the election,
"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.[41]
Cameron was rewarded with a promotion to Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont.[42]
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. Cameron, who was unknown to the public at the time, can
be spotted at Lamont's side in news film of the latter's announcement of
British withdrawal from the European Exchange Rate
Mechanism that evening. At the 1992 Conservative Party conference in
October, Cameron had a tough time 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.[43]
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.[44]
Cameron's boss Norman 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.[45]
However, Lamont's unpopularity did not necessarily affect Cameron: he
was considered as a potential "kamikaze"
candidate for the Newbury by-election, which
included the area where he grew up.[46]
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 admitted "singing in his bath" with happiness at leaving the ERM.
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).[47]
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.[48]
Home Office
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".[49]
It was later reported that many at the Treasury
would have preferred Cameron to carry on.[50]
At the beginning of September 1993, Cameron applied to go on
Conservative Central Office's list of Parliamentary candidates.[51]
According to Derek Lewis, then
Director-General of the 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.[52]
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.[53]
During his work for Howard, Cameron often briefed the press. 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 a leak inquiry failed to find the culprit, Labour MP Peter Mandelson demanded an assurance from Howard that
Cameron had not been responsible, which Howard gave.[54][55]
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."[56]
Carlton
In July 1994, Cameron left his role as Special Adviser to work as the
Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications.[57]
Carlton, which had won the ITV franchise for London weekdays in 1991, were a
growing media company which also had film distribution and video
producing arms. 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.[58]
In a roundtable discussion on the future of broadcasting in 1998 he
criticised the effect of overlapping different regulators on the
industry.[59]
Carlton's consortium did win the digital terrestrial franchise but
the resulting company suffered difficulties in attracting subscribers.
In 1999 the Express on Sunday newspaper claimed
Cameron had rubbished one of its stories which had given an accurate
number of subscribers, because he wanted the number to appear higher
than expected.[60]
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.[61]
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 due to train delays.[62]
Early in 1996, he was selected for Stafford, a new
constituency created in boundary changes, which was projected to have a
Conservative majority.[63]
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".[64]
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."[65]
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.[66]
Otherwise, Cameron kept very 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.[67][68]
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
out for the Kensington and Chelsea
seat after the death of Alan
Clark,[69]
but did not make the shortlist.
He was in the final two but narrowly lost at Wealden in March 2000,[70]
a loss ascribed by Samantha Cameron to his lack of spontaneity when
speaking.[71]
On 4 April 2000 Cameron was selected as prospective candidate for Witney in Oxfordshire.
This was a safe Conservative seat but its sitting MP Shaun Woodward (who had worked with Cameron on the 1992
election campaign) had joined the Labour Party; newspapers claimed
Cameron and Woodward had "loathed each other",[72]
although Cameron's biographers Francis Elliott and James Hanning
describe them as being "on fairly friendly terms".[73]
Cameron put a great deal of effort into "nursing" his constituency,
turning up at social functions, and attacked Woodward for changing his
mind on fox hunting to support a ban.[74]
During the election campaign, Cameron accepted the offer of writing a
regular column for The
Guardian's online section.[75]
He won the seat with a 1.9% swing to the Conservatives and a majority
of 7,973.[76][77]
Member of
Parliament
Upon his election to Parliament, he served as a member of the Commons
Home Affairs Select
Committee, a plum choice for a new MP. It was Cameron's proposal
that the Committee launch an inquiry into the law on drugs,[78]
and during the inquiry he urged the consideration of "radical options".[79]
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.[80]
Cameron determinedly attempted to increase his public profile,
offering quotes 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;[81]
and commented that the Home Affairs Select Committee had taken a long
time to discuss whether the phrase "black market" should be used.[82]
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.[83]
The wide scale of abstentions and rebellious votes destabilised the
Iain Duncan Smith leadership.
In June 2003, Cameron was appointed as a shadow minister in the Privy Council Office
as a deputy to Eric Forth who was 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 to the opposition frontbench local government spokesman in 2004 before being promoted
into the shadow cabinet that June
as head of policy co-ordination. Later he became shadow education secretary
in the post-election reshuffle.[84]
From February 2002[85]
until August 2005 he was a non-executive director of Urbium PLC,
operator of the Tiger Tiger bar chain.[86]
Leadership
of the Conservative Party
Leadership
election
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, as part of a plan (subsequently rejected) to change the
leadership election rules.[citation needed]
Cameron announced formally that he would be a candidate for the
position on 29 September 2005. Parliamentary colleagues supporting him
initially included Boris Johnson, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, then Shadow Defence Secretary and deputy
leader of the party Michael Ancram, Oliver
Letwin[87]
and former party leader William
Hague.[88]
Despite this, his campaign did not gain significant support prior to
the 2005 Conservative Party Conference. However his speech, delivered without
notes, proved a significant turning point. 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."[89]
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 and Kenneth 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.[90]
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 Conservative 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,
beating Davis's 64,398 votes.[91]
Although Davis had initially been the favourite, it was widely
acknowledged that Davis's candidacy was marred by a disappointing
conference speech, whilst Cameron's was well received. Cameron's
election as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader 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.[92]
Cameron's appearance on the cover of Time in September 2008 was said by the Daily
Mail to present him to the world as 'Prime Minister in waiting'.[93]
Reaction
to Cameron as leader
Cameron's relatively young age and inexperience before becoming
leader have invited satirical comparison with Tony
Blair. Private Eye
soon published a picture of both leaders on their front cover, with the
caption "World's first face transplant a success".[94]
On the left, New
Statesman has unfavourably likened his "new style of politics"
to Tony Blair's early leadership years.[95]
Cameron is accused of paying excessive attention to image, with ITV News
broadcasting footage from the 2006 Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth
which showed him wearing four different sets of clothes within the
space of a few hours.[96]
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".[97]
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.[98]
On the right, former Chairman of the Conservative
Party Norman Tebbit has likened Cameron to Pol Pot,
"intent on purging even the memory of Thatcherism
before building a New Modern Compassionate Green Globally Aware Party".[99]
Ex-Conservative MP Quentin Davies, who defected 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".[100]
Traditionalist conservative
columnist and author Peter Hitchens has written that, "Mr Cameron has abandoned
the last significant difference between his party and the established
left", by embracing social liberalism[101]
and has dubbed the party under his leadership "Blue Labour", a pun on New Labour.[102]
Cameron responded by calling Hitchens a "maniac".[103]
Daily Telegraph correspondent and
blogger Gerald Warner has been particularly scathing
about Cameron's leadership, arguing that it is alienating traditionalist conservative
elements from the Conservative Party, although given his continuing
animus toward Cameron's leadership, whether or not Warner has retained
his former Tory membership is unknown[104]
Cameron is reported to be known to friends and family as 'Dave'
rather than David, although he invariably uses 'David' in public.[105]
However, critics of Cameron often refer to him as "Call me Dave" in an
attempt to imply populism in the same way as "Call me Tony" was used
in 1997.[106]
The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein has condemned those who attempt to
belittle Cameron by calling him 'Dave'.[107]
Shadow
Cabinet appointments
His Shadow
Cabinet appointments have 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,
as Shadow Chancellor of the
Exchequer and Shadow Home Secretary respectively. Hague, assisted
by Davis, stood in for Cameron during his paternity leave in February 2006.[108]
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 seen as a challenge to the
changes introduced under Cameron's leadership.[109]
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.[110]
Cameron has commented on the challenge of appointing cabinet members:
"One of the most difficult parts of the job is colleague-management.
And moving people in and out of the shadow cabinet is very difficult but
it absolutely has to be done. You must not dodge it, you must not duck
it."[111]
Eurosceptic caucus
During his successful campaign to be elected Leader of the
Conservative Party, Cameron pledged that under his leadership 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.[112]
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 in 2009 after the next European
Parliament elections.[113]
After the 2009 elections, the
formation of the European Conservatives
and Reformists group was announced on 22 June. The principle allies
were the Law and Justice party (which is the main
opposition in the Sejm in Poland) and the Civic
Democratic Party (which is the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies
in the Czech Republic); both parties hold their countries'
Presidencies. There was also one member of the group from each of five
other countries.[114]
Cameron attended a gathering at Warsaw's
Palladium cinema celebrating the foundation of the alliance; also
present were Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Law and
Justice, and Mirek Topolánek, leader of the Civic
Democratic Party.[115]
The group has faced criticism "for having MEPs from Latvia whose
members have celebrated the Nazis, condemned homosexuality
and claimed the election of black US President Barack
Obama signalled 『the end of civilisation.'".[116]
The role of first permanent chairman went to Michał Kamiński of PiS, who has questioned
the need to apologise for an anti-Jewish pogrom during the
Second World War. In connection with Kamiński, the Conservative
Party was accused of attempting to alter Wikipedia articles "to airbrush
the embarrassing past", with the The
Observer newspaper reporting edits made in June 2009 from an IP
address at the United
Kingdom House of Commons.[117][118]
The appearance of Kamiński and the Latvian MEP Roberts Zīle at the Conservative Party conference drew an
attack from Foreign Secretary David Miliband.[119]
In forming the caucus, containing a total of 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),[120]
on the grounds that they are dominated by European federalists
and supporters of the Lisbon treaty.[120]
EPP leader Wilfried Martens, former prime 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."[120]
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."[121]
Policies and views
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".[122]
He has stated that he is "certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a
Thatcherite."[123]
He has also claimed to be a "liberal Conservative", and "not a deeply
ideological person."[124]
Cameron has stated that he does not intend to oppose the government as a
matter of course, and will 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".[125]
There have been claims that he described himself to journalists
at a dinner during the leadership contest as the "heir to Blair".[126]
He believes that British Muslims have a duty to integrate into British
culture, but notes that they find aspects such as high family breakdown
and high drug use uninspiring, and notes 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."[127]
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".[128]
Cameron co-operated with Dylan Jones, giving him interviews and
access, to enable him to produce the book Cameron on Cameron.[129]
Divisive
Parliamentary votes
In November 2001, David 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.[130]
In March 2002, he voted against banning the hunting of wild mammals
with dogs,[131]
being an occasional hunter himself.[132]
In April 2003, he voted against the introduction of a bill to ban
smoking in restaurants.[133]
In June 2003, he voted against NHS Foundation Trusts.[134]
Also in 2003, he voted to keep the controversial Section
28 clause.[135]
In March 2003, he voted against a motion that the case had not yet
been made for war against Iraq,[136]
and then supported using "all means necessary to ensure the disarmament
of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction".[137]
In October 2003, however, he voted in favour of setting up a judicial
inquiry into the Iraq War.[138]
In October 2004, he voted in favour of the Civil Partnership Bill.[139]
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..."[140]
In October 2005, he voted against the Identity Cards Bill.[141]
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".[142]
He has also said that John
Prescott "clearly looks a fool" in light of allegations of
ministerial misconduct.[143]
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.[144]
Cameron has accused the United
Kingdom Independence Party of being "fruitcakes, loonies and closet
racists, mostly,"[145]
leading UKIP leader Nigel Farage to demand an apology for the
remarks. Right-wing Conservative MP Bob
Spink, who has since defected to UKIP, also criticised the remarks,[146]
as did the The Daily Telegraph.[147]
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".[148]
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".[149]
Cameron is listed as being a supporter of Unite Against Fascism.[150]
Cameron, in late 2009, urged the Lib Dems to join the Conservative 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 Conservative were totally
different from his party and that the Lib Dems were the true
"progressives" in UK politics.[151]
Allegations
of social elitism
While Leader of
the Conservative Party, Cameron has been accused of reliance on
"old-boy networks"[152]
and attacked by his party for the imposition of selective shortlists of
prospective parliamentary
candidates.[153]
He has also expressed admiration for "brazenly elitist" approaches in
teaching reflected in controversial Conservative Party plans for
education.[154]
Education
at Eton and 'class war'
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 are "Old Etonians".[152]
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."[155]
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."[156]
Some supporters of the party have criticised what they see as cronyism
on the front benches, with Sir Tom
Cowie, working class founder of Arriva and
former Conservative donor, ceasing 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 said when a party was changing "there will always be people
who are uncomfortable with that process".[157]
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.[158][159]
Imposition of
shortlists for parliamentary candidates
Similarly, Cameron's initial "A-List" of prospective parliamentary
candidates was been attacked by members of his party,[153]
with the policy now having been discontinued in favour of gender
balanced final shortlists. These have been criticised by senior
Conservative MP and Prisons Spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe as an "insult to women", Widdecombe
accusing Cameron of "storing up huge problems for the future."[160][161]
The plans have since led to conflict in a number of 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".[161]
Restrictions
on entry to teaching
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". 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. 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." In response to the manifesto as a whole, Chris Keates,
head of teaching union NASUWT, said teachers would be left "shocked,
dismayed and demoralised" and warned of the potential for strikes
as a result.[154][162][163]
South Africa
In April 2009, The Independent reported that in 1989, while Nelson Mandela remained imprisoned under the apartheid regime, 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.[164]
Allegations
of recreational drug use
During the leadership election allegations were made that Cameron had
used cannabis and cocaine
recreationally before becoming an MP.[165]
Pressed on this point during the BBC programme Question Time,
Cameron expressed the view that everybody was allowed to "err and
stray" in their past.[166]
His refusal to deny consumption of either cannabis or cocaine prior to
his parliamentary career has been interpreted as a tacit admission that
he has in fact consumed both of these illegal drugs. 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."[166]
Cameron as a
cyclist
He regularly uses 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.[167]
This has led to questions regarding any claims to his "green"
credentials.[168]
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.[169]
When Gordon Brown became Prime Minster on 27
June 2007, Labour moved ahead and its ratings grew steadily at Cameron's
expense, an ICM poll[170]
in July showing Labour with a seven point lead in the wake of
controversies over his policies. An ICM poll[171]
in September saw Cameron rated the least popular of the three main
party leaders. A YouGov poll for Channel 4[172]
one week later, after the Labour Party conference, extended the Labour
lead to 11 points, prompting further speculation of an early election.
Following the Conservative Party conference in the first week of
October 2007, The Guardian reported that the Conservatives had
drawn level with Labour on 38%.[173]
When Gordon Brown declared he would not call an election for the
autumn,[174]
a decline in Brown and Labour's standings followed. At the end of the
year a series of polls showed improved support for the Conservatives,
with an ICM poll[175]
giving them an 11 point lead over Labour. This decreased slightly in
early 2008,[176]
yet in March a YouGov survey for The Sunday Times reported that Conservatives had their
largest lead in opinion polls since October 1987, at 16 points.[177]
In May 2008, following the worst local election performance from the
Labour Party in 40 years, a YouGov survey on behalf of The Sun showed the Conservative lead up to 26
points, the largest since 1968.[178]
In December 2008, a ComRes poll showed the Conservative lead had
decreased dramatically to a single point,[179]
though by February 2009 it had recovered to reach 12 points.[180]
A period of relative stability in the polls was broken in mid-December
2009 by a Guardian/ICM poll showing the Conservative lead down to nine
points,[181]
triggering discussion of a possible hung parliament. In January 2010, a BPIX survey for The Mail on Sunday showed the lead unchanged.[182]
Personal life
Cameron married Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield, the daughter of Sir Reginald
Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th Baronet and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones
(now the Viscountess Astor), on 1
June 1996 at Ginge Manor in Oxfordshire. The Camerons have had three
children. Their first child, Ivan Reginald Ian, was born on 8 April 2002
in Hammersmith and Fulham,
London,[183]
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 is
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!"[184]
Ivan died at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington,
London, in the early hours of 25 February 2009. He was still only six
years old[185]
In a rare show of unity among key political figures from all parties,
the Camerons received many condolencies from many politicians but
leading British National Party member Jeff Marshall
caused controversy by his comments about Ivan Cameron and people with
similar disabilities, claiming that there was "not a greal deal of point
in keeping these sort of people alive".[1]
The Camerons also have a daughter, Nancy Gwen[186]
(born 19 January 2004, Westminster, London), and another son, Arthur Elwen
(born 14 February 2006, Westminster).[187]
Cameron took paternity leave when his
second son was born, and this decision received broad coverage.[188]
On 22 March 2010, it was reported that Cameron's wife, Samantha was
pregnant and that she was expecting their fourth child in September
2010.[189]
A Daily Mail article from June 2007 quoted Sunday Times Rich List compiler Philip Beresford, who had valued the Conservative leader for the first
time, as saying: "I put the combined family wealth of David and Samantha
Cameron at £30m plus. Both sides of the family are extremely wealthy."[190]
Another estimate is £3.2 million, though this figure excludes the
million-pound legacies Cameron is expected to inherit from both sides of
his family.[191]
In early May 2008, David Cameron decided to enrol his daughter Nancy
at a state school. She attends St Mary Abbot's Church of England School
in Kensington.
The Camerons had been attending its church, which is near to the
Cameron family home in North Kensington, for three years.[192]
In May 2009, it was reported that Cameron is related to deputy leader
of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman, through her aunt's marriage to his
great-uncle.[193]
Cameron's bicycle was stolen in May 2009 while he was shopping. It
was recovered with the aid of The Sunday Mirror.[194]
His bicycle has since been stolen again from near his house.[195]
He is an occasional jogger and has raised funds for charities by taking
part in the Oxford 5K and the Great Brook Run.[196][197]
Cameron supports Aston Villa Football Club.[198]
Faith
Speaking of his beliefs, Cameron has said: "I've a sort of fairly
classic Church of England faith".[199]
He states that his politics "is not faith-driven", adding: "I am a
Christian, I go to church, I believe in God, but I do not have a direct
line."[200]
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."[199]
Questioned as to whether his faith had ever been tested, Cameron
spoke of the birth of his "severely disabled" eldest son, saying: "You
ask yourself 'If there is a God, why can anything like this happen?'" He
went on to state that in some ways the experience had "strengthened"
his beliefs.[200]