David Cameron's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 11 May 2010 when he accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, and ended on 13 July 2016 upon his resignation following the 2016 referendum that favoured Brexit, which he had opposed. As prime minister, Cameron also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Leader of the Conservative Party.
Following the 2010 general election, Cameron became prime minister at the head of a coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, as no party had gained an overall majority in the House of Commons for the first time since the February 1974 general election. He appointed Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Deputy Prime Minister. Between them, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats controlled 363 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 76 seats.
Cameron's premiership was marked by the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession; these involved a large deficit in government finances that his government sought to reduce through austerity measures. His administration passed the Health and Social Care Act and Welfare Reform Act, which introduced large-scale changes to healthcare and welfare. It also enforced stricter immigration policies, introduced reforms to education and oversaw the 2012 London Olympics. It privatised the Royal Mail and legalised same-sex marriage in Great Britain. After the 2015 general election, he remained as prime minister, this time leading a Conservative-only government with a parliamentary majority of 12. To fulfil a manifesto pledge, Cameron introduced a referendum on the UK's continuing membership of the European Union in 2016. He supported the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign. Following the success of the Leave vote, Cameron resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Theresa May, his home secretary.
As prime minister, Cameron was credited for helping to modernise the Conservative Party and reducing the deficit. However, he was subject to a level of criticism for the 2015 manifesto commitment to implement the referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU and his vocal support for remain, which ultimately led to his resignation as prime minister. This led to a sustained period of political instability. The austerity measures introduced by Cameron's chancellor George Osborne failed to reduce unemployment, lower interest rates and stimulate growth, and were linked to worsened inequality and poverty and a rise in political instability. In historical rankings of prime ministers, academics and journalists have ranked him in the third and fourth quintiles.
Background
The morning after the 2010 general election presented the country with no single political party able to form a government that would command a majority in the House of Commons for the first time since the February 1974 general election with the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson falling short of a majority. In light of this reality the Conservative leader, David Cameron, went public and gave a "big, open and comprehensive offer" to the Liberal Democrats' leader Nick Clegg and said that he wanted to open up negotiations with them to form Britain's first coalition government since Winston Churchill's war ministry during the Second World War. In reply, Clegg said that he had always maintained that the party with the most seats and the most votes should have the right to seek to govern. Speaking to the press he said: "It seems this morning that it is the Conservative Party which has more votes and more seats – although not an absolute majority – which is why I now think that it is the Conservative Party which should seek to govern in the national interest."The Times | David Cameron opens talks with Liberal Democrats after election results in hung parliament
Following the announcement, teams of negotiators from both parties formulated what would become the Coalition Agreement which would form the basis of their partnership together. Gordon Brown's resignation on 11 May 2010 meant that Cameron was invited by the Queen to form a government and a coalition with the Liberal Democrats was agreed, with Clegg as the Deputy PM and Lord President of the Council. The initial agreement was published on 12 May 2010. It consisted of a seven-page document, in 11 sections. In the foreword, it stated "These are the issues that needed to be resolved between us in order for us to work together as a strong and stable government". Of the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs, only two (Charles Kennedy and John Leech) refused to support the Conservative Coalition agreement.
First term (May 2010 – May 2015)
Entering government On 11 May 2010, following the resignation of Gordon Brown as prime minister and on his recommendation, Queen Elizabeth II invited Cameron to form a new government. At age 43, Cameron became the youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812, beating the record previously set by Tony Blair in May 1997. In his first address outside 10 Downing Street, he announced his intention to form a coalition government, the first since the Second World War, with the Liberal Democrats.
Cameron outlined how he intended to "put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and for the national interest." As one of his first moves Cameron appointed Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, as deputy prime minister on 11 May 2010. Between them, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats controlled 363 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 76 seats.
Cameron made his first official visits as prime minister in May. He first visited Scotland and met with the First Minister Alex Salmond, followed by Wales to meet with the First Minister Carwyn Jones, and Northern Ireland to meet with the First Minister Peter Robinson. His first trip to a foreign country was on 20 May to France where he met with the French president Nicolas Sarkozy. He visited Germany on 21 May where he held talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Cabinet appointments
A press conference on the new cabinet took place on 12 May 2010. Soon after Cameron took office, it was confirmed that Clegg would be appointed to the semi-official role of deputy prime minister, while George Osborne would become the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Later it was confirmed that William Hague had assumed the post of Foreign Secretary and the new Home Secretary would be Theresa May. Cameron's cabinet included Clegg and four other Liberal Democrats: Danny Alexander, Vince Cable, Chris Huhne, and David Laws.
Policies
Economic issues and programme for austerity
The economy was a priority during the Great Recession and the consequent increasing government debt when Cameron came into office, with the topic being of much concern in British public opinion. The government announced a policy, later called 'Plan A', of eliminating the structural deficit and ensuring that the debt-to-GDP ratio started falling by the end of the parliament in 2015. To facilitate this goal, the Office for Budget Responsibility and a government-wide spending review were created. While several government agencies enacted spending decreases, funding policies for the National Health Service and for overseas development were exempt.
In 2010, the Behavioural Insights Team was set up to apply nudge theory (behavioural economics and psychology) to try to improve government policy and services as well as to save the UK government money. In February 2013, the UK lost its AAA credit rating, the retention of which the government had indicated to be a priority when coming to power, for the first time since 1978. By 2015 the annual deficit had been cut by about half, (the initial target was to get it to zero), so the debt-to-GDP ratio was still rising.
Specifically, Cameron's first term in office, enacting changes from 2010 to 2014, involved about £100 billion of cuts in government expenditures. In terms of economic growth, the figures that came in were generally below expectations at first, but nationwide growth picked up to an annual rate of 3% by the end of 2014, indicating a mixed picture as many of the new job positions being created have featured relatively low wages. Cameron's administration has also pursued a policy of tax increases; however, the bulk of the deficit reduction that occurred, more than 80% of the total, was related to spending cuts.
In 2014, Cameron stated that the austerity programme would continue into the next parliament with further cuts to be decided after the election. Cameron's government introduced a law to prevent raising Income Tax, National Insurance and VAT rates. Ameet Gill, aide to Cameron at the time claims this was "poorly thought out", done "on the hoof" and "probably the dumbest economic policy". Labour considered the policy unwise and claimed it would make ending the spending deficit harder. Conservatives claimed they were leaving people with more of their own money to spend.
Reforms to the benefits system In 2010 a white paper was introduced by Iain Duncan Smith to reform the benefits system, merging six benefits into the Universal Credit. The objectives of the policy included creating a more responsive system that would simplify and incentive return to work, pay benefits in a monthly cycle more akin to salaries, reduce the high marginal deduction rate that accumulates from the withdrawal of more than one means-tested benefit simultaneously improving incentives, ensure that taking on even a small or varying amount of work would be financially rewarding, and reduce the proportion of children growing up in homes where no one worked. Universal Credit would merge out-of-work benefits and in-work support to improve return to work incentives. Implementation proved to be difficult and was much delayed, with the first roll out of the full system in December 2018, with full implementation targeted for 2024.
In 2015 the chancellor, George Osborne, announced a future £3.2 billion a year cut to the Universal Credit budget, to significant criticism about risks the system would fail to achieve its purpose of incentivising work in low-income households.
Reforms to the National Health Service
The Health and Social Care Bill was the most deep-rooted and extensive reworking of the structure of the National Health Service ever undertaken.British Medical Journal, 2011; 342:d408, Dr Lansley’s Monster The bill had implications for all health organisations in the NHS, not least for primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs), which were replaced by clinical commissioning groups principally run by local GPs.
The bill was one of the government's most controversial proposals, and in April 2011 the government announced a "listening exercise" postponing further action on the bill. The controversy arose in part because the proposals were not discussed during the 2010 general election campaign and were not contained in the May 2010 Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement. Two months after the election, a white paper outlined what The Daily Telegraph called the "biggest revolution in the NHS since its foundation".
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