Cameron, David (1966-…), served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from May 2010 to July 2016. Cameron, then the leader of the Conservative Party, replaced outgoing prime minister and Labour Party leader Gordon Brown. As prime minister, Cameron shifted his party away from certain right-wing policies in an attempt to appeal to more moderate voters. Cameron also emphasized fiscal responsibility (responsible taxing and spending) and protection of the environment.
David William Donald Cameron was born in London, England, on Oct. 9, 1966. He is one of four children born to Ian Donald Cameron and Mary Fleur Mount. Young David attended Eton, a leading private secondary school. In 1988, he graduated from Oxford University. That same year, he became a Conservative Party researcher.
Cameron married Samantha Sheffield, a British business executive, in 1996. The couple have had four children: Ivan Reginald Ian (2002-2009), Nancy Gwen (2004-…), Arthur Elwen (2006-…), and Florence Rose Endellion (2010-…). Cameron published a memoir, For the Record (2019).
In the early 1990’s, Cameron served as a special adviser to Cabinet members in the Conservative government of Prime Minister John Major. From 1994 to 2001, Cameron was director of corporate affairs at Carlton Communications, a British media company. In 1997, he ran unsuccessfully for election as the member of Parliament representing Stafford, Staffordshire. He served as member of Parliament for Witney, Oxfordshire, from 2001 to 2016.
Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party in 2005. He became prime minister following a general election in 2010. In a general election in 2015, the Conservative Party won a majority of seats in the British House of Commons, and Cameron remained as prime minister. In 2016, British voters chose to leave the European Union (EU) in a controversial referendum nicknamed “Brexit” (British exit). Cameron, who opposed the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, resigned from office in response. New Conservative Party leader Theresa May succeeded Cameron as prime minister.
In November 2023, the government of Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak named Cameron as a life peer in the British House of Lords. Cameron’s appointment to the House of Lords allowed Sunak to name him foreign secretary in Sunak’s Cabinet. British law requires government ministers to be members of Parliament.
