David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is the leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom. He has occupied both positions since December 2005.
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years.

A first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997 ended in defeat but Cameron was elected in 2001 as the Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign.

Cameron was viewed by some as a young, moderate candidate, who would appeal to young voters, and in 2005 he won the Conservative leadership election. His early leadership saw the Conservative Party establish an opinion poll lead over Tony Blair's Labour; the first in over ten years. Although they fell behind shortly thereafter when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, under Cameron's leadership the Conservatives have been consistently ahead of Labour in the polls.

he Conservative leader saw his double-digit lead over Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour party shrink ahead of the campaign, but final opinion polls showed the Tories clearly on course to become the biggest party.

Although he is expected to fall short of the seats needed to control the House of Commons, making an alliance with smaller parties likely, he will have fulfilled his promise to bring the Tories out of 13 years of opposition.

Newspapers — the majority of whom back Cameron — painted the 43-year-old as a fresh start for recession-hit Britain, with The Sun comparing him to US President Barack Obama in a headline Thursday reading: “Our only hope.”

It has been a rocky ride. Battling a dwindling poll lead, Cameron’s performance in the first ever televised leaders’ debates failed to provide the expected boost after being overshadowed by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

Clegg stole the show for much of the campaign, seizing the Tories’ message of change after a scandal over lawmakers’ expenses and a deep recession.


But recent surveys suggest Cameron has pulled ahead once again, with the Lib Dems dropping back into third place, a vindication for the Tory leader who has sought to modernise his party since taking over five years ago.

Cameron was educated at Eton, Princes William and Harry’s old school, and Oxford University, where he was a member of rowdy student dining society the Bullingdon Club alongside Boris Johnson, now mayor of London.

His background has led to accusations he is too privileged to understand ordinary voters’ problems, and the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror pointedly put a photo of Cameron in tails and a bow tie on its front cover Thursday.



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