David Cameron

David Cameron is the Conservative Party leader who was prime minister of the United Kingdom from May of 2010 until his resignation in July of 2016. David Cameron was born in London but grew up in Berkshire, England. He attended Eton and then received a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford in 1988. After Oxford, Cameron jumped right into politics with a job in the research department of the Conservative Party. From 1990-97 he worked in corporate communications for the TV company Carlton, but left the company to return to politics. David Cameron was elected as a Member of Parliament for Witney, Oxfordshire in 2001. Regarded as a fresh blast of young (and moderate) air for a stuffy old Conservative Party, he was named party leader in 2005; he was often compared to Tony Blair, who played a similarly rejuvenating role for the Labour Party a decade earlier. The Conservative Party made an unexpectedly strong showing in the elections of 6 May 2010, and Cameron was asked by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government when Gordon Brown resigned on 11 May 2010. In 2015 he was retained as prime minister after the Conservative Party won what the BBC called a "shock election victory"; expected by pollsters to be in fight to stay in power, the Conservatives instead won 331 seats, a clear majority of the 650 seats in Parliament. However, Cameron announced in June of 2016 that he would step down as prime minister after Britons voted to leave the European Union (the so-called "Brexit" vote). Cameron resigned on July 13, 2016 and was replaced (as both prime minister and Conservative Party leader) by Theresa May.