Lucy Mannion
Naked Politics Blogger
Oh dear, poor old Call Me Dave really has taken a bit of a bashing over the last few weeks. Accused of being responsible for Brexit, sawing up the United Kingdom and potentially obliterating the EU itself by instigating a snowball of referenda (or referendums according to your tastes apparently) across the continent. He certainly has one incredibly hefty load to lug around as apparently the world really was on his shoulders. As many mainstream media commentators and almost gleeful pundits remind us, this will be his legacy: the man that broke Britain.
Now I have decided this is a bit unwarranted really, I’m not saying DC has been the super best PM we’ve ever had with sprinkles on top, but I believe he is a genuine man who entered politics to try and make a positive impact on the country. In fact, my inkling is that, as the song goes, we won’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone.
Let’s hark back now to 2005 (year of pop bangerz such as Pon De Replay by Rihanna, just to set the scene) and the battle of the Davids (Cameron v Davis) which saw our battered PM snatch the crown from the more experienced (cough, older), more benign candidate, with a vision to transform and revolutionise the Conservative Party in to something that belonged in this century. Cameron grasped (like his successor Theresa May, who somewhat accidentally popularised the phrase) that the Tories were seen as the ‘nasty party’, a load of jeering, ancient poshos with no grasp on reality, let alone modern Britain, with a predilection for blaming the poor and unaccomplished for their own shortcomings.
He then sought to drag the party, kicking and screaming, to the centre right and rebranded as a socially conscious operation that believed that hard graft should pay off for everyone and that nobody should be doomed by the circumstances of their birth. Yes, he didn’t break the Tory mould that much, he was still an Eton boy with cash to burn, but it did truly seem like he actually cared. His much referenced ‘Hug a Hoodie’ campaign and husky sledge around the arctic in the name of climate change are mocked, but these moves did demonstrate an undeniable push to connect the Conservative Party to issues that were traditionally seen to be outside their remit.
When he became PM, Dave always appeared to be calm and collected (like a political version of when Dermot O’Leary hosts a show; you know you’re in safe hands.) I realise some protest he did far too much chillaxing in places like Beefa, but my impression remains that he was of the mind-set that you should always ruminate properly before diving in to action. I also enjoyed that he always looked quite dapper and you could trust his manners. I wasn’t always thinking ‘Lord I do hope the PM doesn’t embarrass us at the G8 conference by having a few too many expensive brandies, being terribly uncouth and grabbing Merkel’s bum.’
He was a key proponent of the saucy sounding muscular liberalism, he battled for same sex marriage in a party in which many were completely hostile to it and has quietly but persistently been trying to ensure more young children in care actually get permanently adopted.
David Cameron’s reforms to the Conservative Party are what made it a party someone like me, a young liberal from a low socioeconomic background, could support. For that at least I think he should be proud and I will miss him when Theresa comes to claim what is now hers this Wednesday, but on a side note: LONG LIVE THE LEOPARD PRINT KITTEN HEELS!