Lord David Cameron's Biography

David Cameron was born on 9 October 1966 and was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford.

Cameron graduated from Oxford University in 1988 with a first class honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

David Cameron worked for the Conservative Party in their research department from 1988 to 1992 when he became a Special Advisor in the Treasury (1992-3), and then at the Home Office (1993-4).

Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, David Cameron was Head of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications.

Cameron was elected Conservative MP for Witney, West Oxfordshire, in June 2001, and immediately became a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

From 2003-4 David Cameron was Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

David Cameron came to prominence in 2005 when as Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills, he delivered an impressive speech at the Conservative Party Conference that instantly converted him from an outsider to be favourite to take over from Michael Howard as Conservative Party leader.

David Cameron campaigned for the Tory leadership under the slogan, 'Change to Win'.

On 6 December 2005 after a long campaign, Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party beating David Davis by 134,446 votes to 64,398 in a postal ballot of party members.

Cameron, who has been described as a 'reformist', a 'moderniser', and a leading member of the Notting Hill set, has called himself a 'compassionate Conservative'.

Cameron's brother, Alexander, married Sarah Fearnley-Whittingstall, whilst David Cameron himself married Samantha Sheffield in 1996.

Samantha Cameron went on to be creative director of luxury stationers Smythson.

On 25 February 2009, David and Samantha Cameron's eldest son Ivan, who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy, died, aged 6. The Camerons have two younger children, Nancy and Arthur.

David Cameron told Sue Lawley on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that he wanted to select Benny Hill's 1971 hit Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West), which was the only song he knows all the words to.

In March 2010 it was revealed that David and Samantha Cameron were expecting a child in September.

On 6 May 2010, the Conservatives under David Cameron won the largest share of the vote and the largest number of seats at the general election, however it was not enough to command an overall majority.

In the days after the election the Conservatives conducted negotiations with the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg to build an alliance from which to govern.

On 11 May 2010, David Cameron became prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown. David Cameron, at 43, became the UK's youngest prime minister in nearly 200 years.

The Conservatives reached a deal with the Liberal Democrats to form the UK's first coalition government for 70 years.

On 24 August 2010, David Cameron's wife Samantha gave birth to a girl, Florence Rose Endellion, their fourth child.

In May 2015, David Cameron continued as Prime Minister after the Conservatives won the general election, with a majority of 12.

However, on 24 June 2016, the day after the Referendum in which Britain voted to leave the European Union, David Cameron announced that he would step down as Prime Minister.

On 11 July 2016, the election process to find the new leader of the Conservative Party finished earlier than expected with Theresa May selected as the leader and Prime Minister, and so David Cameron announced that she would take over from him on the evening of 13 July.

On 12 September 2016, David Cameron announced that he was stepping down as an MP.

In September 2019, David Cameron released his memoir For the Record.

On 13 November 2023, David Cameron was made a Lord and was appointed Foreign Secretary.