David Cameron
David Cameron is the current leader of the British Conservative Party, and the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. At 43 he became the youngest person to become Prime Minister since 1812 when Lord Liverpool took up the post at the age of 42.
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[edit] Personal life and family
David Cameron is married and has a son and daughter - his oldest son died in February 2009 from a combination of cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
[edit] Policies
Cameron is generally thought of by his opposition as a typical Tory toff and a Thatcherite at heart, despite Cameron's claims to the contrary that he is a "progressive conservative."[1] After winning the party leadership in December 2005, he "stepped up his modernisation drive," indicating to move away from the old Tory platform of standing up for big business, scrapping (subsidised) private healthcare, and generally part from Thatcherite principles.[2] Having actually achieved power, his party unveiled a series of Thatcherite policies which critics identified as intended to stomp on those at the bottom of the social pile for the benefit of those at the top. He has also placed emphasis on his Party's previously vague environmental credentials[3] by cycling to work while a car carrying his papers follows him.[4] His stated desire to "stand up to big business" began with opposing a law that would make businesses more socially and environmentally accountable.[5]
One of his policies that he apparently has great passion for is the "Big Society." Essentially upon raising taxes on the little people, cutting taxes on the rich and slashing spending he's decided to make the services which we tend to rely on be volunteer-run and which he then dressed up with the rhetoric of "take power away from politicians and give it to people."
Cameron has stated that he is not a deeply ideological person. He practices social liberalism, opposing homophobia and supporting ethnic diversity (ironic, we know) while also practicing fiscal conservatism. As such it would perhaps be best to describe him as a libertarian.
[edit] Religion
Cameron is an avowed member of the Church of England. He attends Church but states that his religious beliefs do not affect his politics. Cameron has also stated that his religious beliefs were challenged by the death of his disabled son, Ivan Reginald Ian, but went on to say that in many ways the experience had strengthened his beliefs.
[edit] Other stuff
- Tough on crime - except while cycling
- David Cameron looks himself up on Facebook and gets a surprise
- Obama on Cameron: "What a lightweight"
- Mastering incompetence so early is tricky. But the Tories have pulled it off
[edit] Footnotes
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For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about David Cameron. |
- ↑ Tories in Birmingham, BBC
- ↑ Cameron says he is breaking with legacy of Thatcher, The Telegraph, January 2006
- ↑ Conservatives - Environment
- ↑ No, we're not making this up
- ↑ Conservatives’ green credentials exposed