David Cameron: the Brexit Prime Minister
Tony Blair had the Iraq War. Gordon Brown had the great crash. Cameron leaves behind Brexit Britain.
Tony Blair left office four years since the beginning of the Iraq War. Gordon Brown was removed from office in favour of the coalition government after perceived failures in the economy- most notably the economic crash of 2007 and 2008. David Cameron, meanwhile, led the UK into a referendum- one used to secure his position as Tory leader and heal divisions in the Conservative Party over Europe- and lost.
It’s that what David Cameron will of course be remembered most for- the ‘Brexit Prime Minister’. The Prime Minister that led the UK to the exit door of the European Union against his will, dragged by the uncontrolled right- fringe of his party, UKIP, and working class ‘left behinds’ in a referendum he didn’t want to have.
Cameron for that will go down in history as one of the most politically reckless PMs- one that used the ultimate of political tools — a referendum — to attempt to heal party divisions. He failed.
But what else does Cameron leave behind in his legacy?
Cameron led the first coalition government, between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, since the grand unity coalition of the second world war, using it to deliver both Conservative and Lib Dem policy. He later became the first PM since 1832 to increase his parliamentary party’s size, and the first Tory PM to gain an overall majority since John Major’s surprise win in 1992.
Cameron was an electoral success. He took seats in Wales, for example, that had been solid Labour seats for a century. He won where the Conservatives in the late 1990s thought were dreams- and who can forget Andrea Jenkins knocking the then Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls out in Morley and Outwood.
On policy, the biggest legacy he leaves behind is of course the equal marriage legislation, albeit a policy that was adopted from the Liberal Democrat manifesto and passed only with the support of the opposition Labour Party votes.
Nevertheless, it’s clear that Cameron was a socially liberal and reforming Prime Minister, clear from this but also his reforms to the adoption and fostering system- in an attempt to speed up the process. While on childcare, the Conservative 2015 manifesto was also reforming, promising the best free childcare provision in the UK, in England.
However, Cameron has of course overseen many negative moments as PM. ‘Piggate’ will of course make him remembered in the online communities for some time, while on more serious notes, he has overseen some damaging and counter-productive policies.
The trebling of tuition fees to nine thousand pounds a year is of course something most young people will look distastefully on- while the austerity program the government has pursued is of course controversial. Some see austerity as a political and economic necessity to reign in debt and reduce the deficit. Others see it as a social and political choice that has had dire consequences.
With that, Cameron leaves office with homelessness up 54% on 2010, child poverty up 200,000, and a record amount of UK debt as the cost. over one trillion pounds of public debt.
Cameron will be remembered as the austerity Prime Minister. The unwanted-Brexit Prime Minister. But probably, must humorously, the Prime Minister that stuck his kn*b in a dead pig’s mouth.
Now let’s see what Theresa May has to offer.
Read: So who is Theresa May? — Alex Powell
