David Cameron

The Right Honourable The Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton PC
Official portrait, 2023
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 11 May 2010 – 13 July 2016
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Nick Clegg (2010–2015)
First Secretary	William Hague George Osborne
Preceded by	Gordon Brown
Succeeded by	Theresa May
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
In office 13 November 2023 – 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Deputy	Andrew Mitchell (2024)
Preceded by	James Cleverly
Succeeded by	David Lammy
Leader of the Opposition
In office 6 December 2005 – 11 May 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Deputy	William Hague
Preceded by	Michael Howard
Succeeded by	Harriet Harman
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 6 December 2005 – 11 July 2016
Preceded by	Michael Howard
Succeeded by	Theresa May
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 November 2023 Life peerage
Member of Parliament for Witney
In office 7 June 2001 – 12 September 2016
Preceded by	Shaun Woodward
Succeeded by	Robert Courts
Shadow cabinet portfolios
2003	Privy Council Office
2004	Local Government
2004–2005	Head of Policy Coordination
2005	Education and Skills
Personal details
Born	David William Donald Cameron (1966-10-09) 9 October 1966 (age 58) Marylebone, London, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Samantha Sheffield ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	4
Relatives	Cameron family
Education	Eton College Brasenose College, Oxford (MA)
Signature
Website	Official website
David Cameron's voice Cameron's first speech as prime minister Recorded 11 May 2010

This article is part of a series about David Cameron
Political positions Electoral history The A-List Cameron Cutie MP for Witney Foreign Secretary Shadow Cabinet Frontbench team One-nation conservatism Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership International trips First ministry and term (May 2010 – May 2015) Cameron–Clegg coalition and agreement Nick Clegg's tenure as Deputy Prime Minister Chancellorship of George Osborne Austerity programme 2010 budget 2011 budget 2012 budget 2013 budget 2014 budget March 2015 budget Theresa May's tenure as Home Secretary Iain Duncan Smith's tenure as Work and Pensions Secretary Michael Gove's tenure as Education Secretary Jeremy Hunt's tenure as Health Secretary Bloody Sunday apology Spending, Strategic Defence, Balance of Competences reviews Military intervention in Libya (Operation Ellamy) Big Society Big Society Award National Citizen Service Alternative Vote referendum Phone hacking scandal 2011 riots Welfare Reform Act Health and Social Care Act London 2012 Summer Olympics Belfast City Hall flag protests Bloomberg speech Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 Woolwich attack Scottish independence referendum Royal Mail privatisation Second ministry and term (May 2015 – July 2016) Second ministry (majority) July 2015 budget Operation Shader Military intervention against ISIL in Iraq 2015–16 floods 2016 budget EU referendum Brexit Murder of Jo Cox Panama Papers 2016 Conservative Party leadership election Resignation Honours Post-premiership 2016 Witney by-election Greensill scandal Greased piglet For the Record Tenure as Foreign Secretary International trips November 2023 British cabinet reshuffle
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David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. After his premiership, he served as Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government from 2023 to 2024. Cameron was Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He was Leader of the Opposition from 2005 to 2010 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney from 2001 to 2016. Cameron identifies as a one-nation conservative and has been associated with both economically liberal and socially liberal policies.

Born in London to an upper-middle-class family, Cameron was educated at Eton College and Brasenose College, Oxford. After becoming an MP in 2001, he served in the opposition Shadow Cabinet under Conservative leader Michael Howard, and succeeded Howard in 2005. Following the 2010 general election, negotiations led to Cameron becoming prime minister as the head of a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. His premiership was marked by the effects of the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession, which his government sought to address through austerity measures. His administration passed the Health and Social Care Act and the Welfare Reform Act, which introduced large-scale changes to healthcare and welfare. It also enforced stricter immigration policies via the Home Office hostile environment policy, introduced reforms to education under Michael Gove as Education Secretary and oversaw the 2012 London Olympics. Cameron's administration privatised Royal Mail and some other state assets, and legalised same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Internationally, Cameron oversaw Operation Ellamy in the First Libyan Civil War and authorised the bombing of the Islamic State in Syria. Domestically, his government oversaw the 2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum and Scottish independence referendum, both of which confirmed Cameron's favoured outcome. When the Conservatives secured an unexpected majority in the 2015 general election, he remained as prime minister, this time leading a Conservative-only government known as the Second Cameron ministry. Cameron introduced a referendum on the UK's continuing membership of the European Union in 2016. He supported the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign which lost. Following the success of Vote Leave, Cameron resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Theresa May, his Home Secretary.

Cameron resigned his seat on 12 September 2016, and maintained a low political profile. He served as the president of Alzheimer's Research UK from 2017 to 2023, and was implicated in the Greensill scandal. Cameron released his memoir, For the Record, in 2019. In 2023 He was appointed Foreign Secretary by Rishi Sunak and became a life peer as Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton. His tenure as Foreign Secretary was dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israel–Hamas war, and the Gaza humanitarian crisis. After the Conservatives lost the 2024 general election to the Labour Party, Cameron retired from frontline politics. However, he maintains his House of Lords seat.

As prime minister, Cameron was credited for helping to modernise the Conservative Party and for reducing the UK's national deficit. However, he was subject to criticism for austerity measures. In historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom, academics and journalists have ranked him in the fourth and third quintiles. Cameron was the first former prime minister to be appointed to a ministerial post since Alec Douglas-Home in 1970, and the first former prime minister to be raised to the peerage since Margaret Thatcher.