David Cameron came to power as ‘heir to Blair’ and both men will be defined by one historic error
When he took office in 2010, the 43-year-old Cameron was Britain’s youngest prime minister in almost 200 years
When David Cameron was elected leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, the press called him the “heir to Blair”. Like Labour premier Tony Blair, he was a young leader who dragged his sometimes reluctant party toward the political centre.
Cameron steps down on Wednesday after six years as prime minister – like Blair, defined by a historic blunder.
For Blair, it was the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For Cameron, it was the decision to call a referendum on Britain’s European Union membership. He gambled that voters would choose to remain, after a cathartic debate that would resolve Conservative Party divisions on Europe.
Yes, it ended in disaster. [But Cameron was] a substantial historical figure who also emerged victorious from two general elections
Instead, Britain voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave – and a tearful Cameron announced his resignation the next morning, saying “I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination”.
He was due to stay on until the party picked a new leader in September, but on Monday Home Secretary Theresa May was chosen as Conservative chief after her main opponent dropped out. British politics can be brutal – the moving vans were pulling up to 10 Downing Street the next day.
Cameron’s six-year term as prime minister will be remembered for its sudden, self-inflicted end. But historian Anthony Seldon said there were substantial achievements, too.
“Yes, it ended in disaster,” Seldon told BBC radio.