David William Donald Cameron (/ˈkæmᵊrən/; born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who has served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2010, as Leader of the Conservative Party since 2005 and as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney since 2001.[1]
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Brasenose College, Oxford. He then joined theConservative Research Department and became special adviser, first 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 Eurosceptic platform, breaking with his party’s then-policy by opposing Britain enteringf 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 Oxfordshireconstituency 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 electionin 2005.[2]
Following the election 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.[3] The 43-year-old Cameron became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812, beating the record previously set by Tony Blair in May 1997. He was re-elected as Prime Minister in the 2015 general election with the Conservatives winning a surprise parliamentary majority for the first time since 1992, despite consistent predictions of a second hung parliament.[4] He is the first Prime Minister to be re-elected immediately after serving a full term with an increased popular vote share since Lord Salisbury in 1900 and the only Prime Minister other thanMargaret Thatcher to be re-elected immediately after a full term with a greater share of the seats.[5][6]