Victim of Brexit: how he came to power and why David Cameron left. David Cameron - Prime Minister of Great Britain: biography, family, political career Cameron England

David Cameron attended the prestigious boarding school Heatherdown (Heatherdown) in Winkfield in the county of Berkshire, where the sons of Queen Elizabeth II studied: Prince Andrew (Prince Andrew) and Prince Edward (Prince Edward), as well as the children of British billionaires. For example, Peter Getty, a close friend of David Cameron, was the son of oil magnate John Paul Getty,.

In 1979, according to family tradition, David entered the elite Eton College,. In May 1983, shortly before passing the first final exams, he was convicted of smoking marijuana, but since he confessed to his deed and did not distribute the drug among other students, he was not expelled, for some time depriving him of the right to go outside the walls of the college, , , ,. According to rumors, before the start of his political career, Cameron could also use "hard" drugs. Despite the marijuana episode, David did well at Eton in late 1984 and entered Oxford University's Brasenose College, although he did poorly in the philosophy entrance exam. Before starting classes at Oxford, David had nine free months: he spent three months working as an assistant to his godfather, British MP from the Conservative Party Tim Rathbone (Tim Rathbone), attended debates in the House of Commons. After that, for about three months, Cameron worked in Hong Kong for the Jardine Matheson Corporation,,. David returned to Europe from Hong Kong by rail, having visited Moscow and Yalta, where, according to his own words, they wanted to recruit him as an agent of the USSR KGB.

At Braiznose, Cameron studied for a Bachelor of Arts in an interdisciplinary course in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). According to the memories of teachers, David was one of the best students. Cameron played in the university tennis team and was an ordinary member of the closed elite clubs of Oxford students - Octagon and Bullingdon, the latter being known for his drinking and debauchery in pubs and restaurants,,. Cameron graduated from the university in 1988 with a first degree diploma and then kept friendly relations with fellow students, including Boris Johnson,.

Carier start

Cameron began his political career on 26 September 1988, taking a job with the research department of the UK Conservative Party, which developed the party's strategy and created briefings for parliamentary debates. In 1991, Cameron was head of the Research Division's political branch. Subsequently, Cameron developed the party's economic strategy and wrote speeches for the Conservative Prime Minister John Major (John Major) for the 1992 general election, but Major himself later claimed that he did not remember the young aide.

After the Conservative victory in the 1992 election, Cameron was transferred to work for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was then Norman Lamont. Cameron served as his political adviser when, on September 16, 1992, the pound sterling was withdrawn from the European Monetary System and devalued by the efforts of George Soros (later this event was called "Black Wednesday"). The crisis led to higher taxes and other negative consequences for the country's economy. Lamont was given the main responsibility for what happened, and in May 1993 he resigned,,,,,. Cameron did not lose party confidence: in June 1993 he received a special adviser position at the British Home Office (Home office), where he was responsible for briefings by Minister Michael Howard, the future leader of the Conservative Party,,. .

In July 1994, Cameron stepped down as special adviser to take over as director of corporate communications for Carlton Communications, which had recently acquired broadcasting rights in the London region. His fiancée Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield (born April 18, 1971), the eldest daughter of Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield (Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield), a noble British landowner, and Annabel Astor, helped him get this position. Astor knew Carlton Communicatons chairman Michael Green and, at her daughter's request, offered him the job of Cameron,. Cameron secured digital satellite rights for Carlton Communicatons and served on the company's executive board. Green subsequently stated that Cameron was a good candidate for the company's board of directors, however, in February 2001, Cameron left the company to participate in parliamentary elections,.

Parliamentary career

The first attempt to be elected to parliament ended unsuccessfully for Cameron: in December 1994, he did not have time to apply for participation in the elections in Ashford due to a train delay. In 1997, he lost the election in Stafford (Staffordshire) to the Labor candidate - David Kidney (David Kidney). In 2000, Cameron could not get into the list of candidates for the election from Wilden, but in 2001 he won the by-election from the Whitney constituency in Oxfordshire, held after the departure of Shaun Woodward to the Labor Party,.

After his election to the House of Commons, Cameron chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee, a prominent post, especially for a young parliamentarian. Cameron actively participated in the debates and became known as a good speaker. It is known that Cameron proposed to reduce the responsibility for the use and sale of the drug "ecstasy". As a hunting enthusiast, he voted against the prohibition of hunting wild animals with dogs. Also, Cameron was against the prohibition of smoking in restaurants, but did not vote on this issue, since he had a child. In March 2003, Cameron supported the armed invasion of Iraq, but already in 2006 he demanded an investigation into its validity.

Despite Cameron's active participation in the debate, in July 2002, Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith did not nominate Cameron to the front bench, causing him to subsequently oppose Smith's leadership and even refuse to follow party policy, abstaining from voting on the issue of adoption. children by homosexual couples. In July 2003, Cameron became a member of the "shadow cabinet", took the post of deputy shadow leader of the House of Commons Eric Forth (Eric Forth). In November 2003, following Smith's departure as party chairman, Cameron became the party's vice chairman under the new Conservative leader, Michael Howard. In this post, he was responsible for coordinating party policy,. In May 2005, Cameron became the shadow secretary of education,,.

From 2002 until his election as leader of the Conservative Party, Cameron was a non-executive director of Urbium, which owned the English chain of bars Tiger Tiger,.

Party leader

Following Labor's victory in the general election, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard announced his resignation. On September 29, 2005, Cameron officially announced that he would run for this post, went through the qualifying rounds with a vote among members of parliament, and on December 6 defeated David Davis in the general party elections, gaining 66 percent of the votes of fellow party members. On December 14, as leader of the opposition, he entered the British Royal Privy Council,.

Soon after his appointment as leader of the opposition, Cameron overtook Prime Minister Tony Blair in the polls. In June 2007, following Blair's voluntary resignation, Labor briefly regained its leadership under new leader Gordon Brown. But already in October 2007, Cameron again became the most popular politician, and the support of conservatives by voters was the highest in the last 14 years. At the same time, Cameron called for early parliamentary elections,. Cameron repeatedly called Brown's policies old-fashioned and criticized Labour's economic platform.

Cameron voted against Labor's proposed anti-terror legislation and the introduction of British identity cards. Cameron described himself as Eurosceptic and believed that Britain should not be subject to US foreign policy. In 2008, Cameron proposed extending the copyright term from 50 to 70 years in exchange for musicians not "singing about materialism, misogyny and a gun cult".

In the context of the global economic crisis that began in the fall of 2008, the population of Great Britain found the economic measures taken by the Laborites to be effective, as a result of which the Conservatives lost their leadership in opinion polls. Although Cameron supported the government's plan to deal with the crisis in October 2008, a week later he sharply criticized Brown's policy, saying that he did not prepare the country's economy for the crisis in years of stability,,

In May 2010, the next parliamentary elections were held in the UK. The Conservative Party took first place in them, although it did not receive a decisive majority in the House of Commons. This situation led to the state of the so-called suspended parliament and could lead to its dissolution and early elections. In this environment, the Conservatives began negotiations for a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, which came in third place, but the condition for such an alliance was electoral reform, which the Conservatives did not support,. Nevertheless, as a result of negotiations, the Conservatives agreed to a referendum on the reform, and on May 11, 2010, Cameron was officially appointed Prime Minister of the coalition government. The press emphasized that Cameron's government became the first coalition government since 1945, and he himself was the youngest prime minister in almost two hundred years,,.

Cameron has been called a young, ambitious leader who wants to modernize UK politics. Cameron was considered a good orator and one of the contenders for the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain after the next parliamentary elections. However, the press often criticized Cameron for the fact that his policies are based on the country's elite, graduates of Eton and Oxford, and he is poorly aware of the needs of ordinary people in the United Kingdom,. Cameron has also been repeatedly criticized for being too religious. Cameron is involved with the British American Parliamentary Group and the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

British Prime Minister

As head of government, Cameron began to promote the concept of transferring power and authority from the center to the people, so that local institutions and transport would be managed by local communities. In July 2010, the Prime Minister announced the creation of similar self-government in several localities. This idea of Cameron provoked criticism from the Laborites, who expressed doubts about the possibility of organizing funding for such projects.

In February 2011, Cameron's statement at a security conference in Munich caused a great resonance: the Prime Minister criticized the state policy of non-interference in the functioning of different cultures in the UK and advocated the formation of a national identity that could prevent the radicalization of young people (primarily , Muslim) in the country , .

At the end of February 2011, shortly after the start of mass demonstrations in Libya against the leader of the state, Muammar Gaddafi, which led to the beginning civil war, Cameron supported the idea of introducing a "no-fly space" in the Libyan sky in order to prevent the use of Libyan aircraft against civilians. On March 18, the British Prime Minister supported the relevant resolution of the UN Security Council and advocated the use of military force to enforce this ban. After that, the British military forces joined the military operation in Libya, in which the United States and France already participated,,. On April 15, Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama issued a joint statement recognizing the "unthinkable" future of Libya led by Gaddafi.

On May 22, 2011, Great Britain announced the completion of the withdrawal of its military formations from Iraq, where since 2003, as part of a broad coalition, they participated in the overthrow of the regime of Saddam Hussein and were subsequently engaged in maintaining order,.

In August 2011, the largest riots took place in London and some other British cities, accompanied by pogroms, arson, looting of shops and clashes with the police. On August 10, Cameron announced the need to arrest the rioters, and subsequently supported the idea of their eviction along with their families from social housing,. On August 15, Cameron delivered a speech in which he stated the moral decline of many Britons, manifested in irresponsibility and selfishness, and connected it with "moral neutrality" - the unwillingness of society to explicitly define moral standards. Some observers called the riots the worst crisis since Cameron took over as British Prime Minister.

In October 2011, the British Commonwealth approved amendments to the succession law, according to which both sexes were equal in their rights to the crown. Commenting on the old system of succession to the throne, in which the younger brother had advantages over the older sister in claiming the throne, Cameron called it outdated. In addition, the ban on the marriage of the future monarch with a representative of the Roman Catholic Church,, was lifted.

In the summer of 2012, the XXX Summer Olympic Games were held in London. During the Olympic football tournament, the incident with the North Korean women's football team became famous: on July 26, when this team entered the stadium, the flag was mistakenly displayed in one of the matches South Korea, which caused indignation of the North Korean delegation, Cameron personally had to make a formal apology,. Athletes from the UK showed the best result at the games since 1908, winning 65 medals, including 29 gold. Cameron, noting the success of British athletes, announced the government's decision to continue to maintain funding for the Olympic team at the same level as before the games in London, and allocate 500 million pounds sterling for its preparation for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,.

Family and personal life

Cameron took part in charitable activities: he was the patron of numerous charitable societies , donated money for the rehabilitation of drug addicts . Like Mayor of London Boris Johnson, even after his election as head of the British Conservatives, Cameron rode a bicycle to work: the theft of his two-wheeled vehicle in July 2008 created a wide resonance (the bike was then found).

Cameron met his future wife, Samantha Gwendolyn Sheffield, in 1992 and they married in 1996. Samantha is a graduate of the Camberwell College of Art, was the Executive Director of the Oka Home Furnishings chain, and in 2008 became creative director Smythsons of Bond Street, . Samantha is considered to be a major influence on her husband's political views. The spouses named their first child Ivan, he was born in 2002 as a disabled person suffering from epilepsy and cerebral palsy, and died in March 2009,,. Then David and Samantha had two healthy children: daughter Nancy (Nancy, born in 2004) and son Arthur Elwen (Arthur Elwen, born in 2006). The Camerons live in an expensive area of London - Notting Hill,. David loves to cook, enjoys tennis, horseback riding, hunting, and football, and is a fan of the English football club Aston Villa.

Used materials

Ollie Williams. London 2012: Which sports won and lost at GB's home Olympics? - BBC News, 13.08.2012

Helene Mulholland. David Cameron extends Olympic funding until Rio in 2016. - The Guardian, 12.08.2012

Vincent Fribault. Exclusive: North Koreans "angry" at flag mix-up. - Reuters, 26.07.2012

London 2012: Wrong flag displayed for North Korean women's soccer team. - The Associated Press, 26.07.2012

Girls equal in British throne succession. - BBC News, 28.10.2011

Nicholas Watt. Royal succession gender equality approved by Commonwealth. - The Guardian, 28.10.2011

Andy Bloxham. Centuries-old rule of primogeniture in Royal Family scrapped. - The Daily Telegraph, 28.10.2011

PM: Tackling Gangs "New National Priority". - sky news, 15.08.2011

Matthew Holehouse. London riots: teenage "looter" and his mother served with eviction notice by Wandsworth council. - The Telegraph, 13.08.2011

Timeline - Riots in Britain. - Reuters, 11.08.2011

Sophie Ridge. Riots: PM Fights Back But Plans "Lack Detail". - sky news, 11.08.2011

Laurie Hanna. Navy is the last of British troops to pull out of Iraq. - Daily Mirror, 23.05.2011

Britain ends military mission in Iraq, withdraws troops. - CNN, 22.05.2011

Imed Lamloum. Leaders say "unthinkable" for Kadhafi to stay. - Agence France-Presse, 15.04.2011

Timeline: UK "s road to action in Libya. - BBC News, 15.04.2011

Libya: UK joins in second night of missile strikes. - BBC News, 21.03.2011

UK air force joins Libya operations. - Xinhua, 21.03.2011

Joe Murphy. Cameron sends war planes to Libya: Jets scramble for attacks on Gaddafi forces. - London Evening Standard, 18.03.2011

IN 1983

IN 1988

1988 -1992

1992 -1993

IN 1993

IN 1994

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IN 1983 graduated from Eton College. After graduating from college, he was an assistant to his godfather, a member of the British Parliament from the Conservative Party Tim Rathbone, attended debates in the House of Commons. He worked for Jardine Matheson Corporation in Hong Kong for about three months.

IN 1988 He graduated from Braiznose College, Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Interdisciplinary Course of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE).

1988 -1992 gg. - Worked in the research department of the Conservative Party, also engaged in the preparation of speeches by John Major and economic issues.

1992 -1993 gg. - political adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was then Norman Lamont.

IN 1993 Cameron began work at the Department of the Interior.

IN 1994 intended to take part in the elections in Ashford, but did not have time to apply due to a train delay.

At the elections 1997 was elected from Stafford constituency, but was defeated.

1994 -2001 gg. Director of Corporate Communications at Carlton Communications.

At the elections 2001 was elected Member of the House of Commons for Whitney, Oxfordshire.

IN 2005 after the resignation of Michael Howard, under whose leadership the party lost the parliamentary elections, he was elected leader of the party in the third round. Under the leadership of Cameron, the political course of the party was liberalized.

in the parliamentary elections 2010 Cameron is the candidate for Prime Minister of the Conservative Party.

At the pre-election debate in the spring 2010 Cameron, according to polls, lost in the first round of debate to Nick Clegg, but won in the last.

On the evening of May 11 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced his resignation as Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party and submitted his resignation to the Queen as Prime Minister.

That same evening, the Queen's proposal to form a government was received by David Cameron, whose party won the largest number of seats in the May 6 general election. 2010 year (but did not receive an absolute majority in parliament). Cameron announced his intention to form a ruling coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Place of Birth. Education. David Cameron was born in London to a broker's family. Comes from an aristocratic dynasty. In 1988 he graduated from Oxford University, where he studied under the interdisciplinary program "Politics, Economics and Philosophy".

Career. From 1988 to 1993 Cameron worked in the research department of the British Conservative Party. He prepared speeches for British Prime Minister John Major (1990-1997).

In 1992 - Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance.

In 1993-1997 - Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior in Major's cabinet.

In 1994-2001 - Cameron also served as director of corporate communications for Carlton Media Corporation.

Cameron's first attempt to enter the House of Commons of the British Parliament in 1997 failed, he was elected to Parliament only in 2001 from Whitney, Oxfordshire.

In 2005, after the resignation of Michael Howard from the post of leader of the Conservative Party, he led the Conservatives following the results of intra-party elections.

In May 2010, Cameron formed a coalition government (the Conservative Party won the parliamentary elections) with the Liberal Democrats (UK's first coalition government since World War II).

After a referendum in June 2016, according to which 51.9% of the British voted for the UK to leave the European Union (Brexit), Cameron resigned.

Views. The British Prime Minister positions himself as a moderate conservative and former admirer of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He advocates maximum openness of markets and free trade. Within the framework of the EU, Cameron is opposed to further expansion and deepening of European integration.

During a speech in 2011, Cameron admitted that the policy of state multiculturalism in the UK has failed and the country's Muslim population should be better integrated into society. He advocates a strict restriction of immigration to EU countries.

Cameron is a supporter of equal rights for representatives of sexual minorities. A same-sex marriage bill was passed by the British Parliament with the support of half of the Conservative MPs in 2013.

Cameron also opposes the aggressive foreign policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2008, during the Russian-Georgian war, he called for visa sanctions against Russia and suspension of its membership in the G8. In 2014, he also became one of the initiators of sanctions against Russia, which attacked Ukraine and annexed Crimea.

Family. Since 1996, he has been married to a representative of an aristocratic family, Samantha Sheffield (born in 1971). Children: two daughters - Nancy Gwen (born 2004) and Florence Rose Endellion (born 2010), son Arthur Elven (born 2006).

Brexit's main opponent, Prime Minister David Cameron, has announced his resignation. RBC recalled his path to power, which ended in a conflict in the Conservative Party, which became one of the main reasons for the protest vote

(Photo: Jeremy Selwyn/AP)

The youngest prime minister in two hundred years, David Cameron, during the struggle in the 2000s, was called by the press a model not only of a progressive conservative, but also of a populist. In the early 2010s, after Cameron became prime minister and promised voters to hold a referendum on EU membership, no one could have thought that the vote would put an end to his brilliant career. But on June 23, the country is behind Brexit, and Cameron, contrary to his previous statements, about the decision to resign. “I fought against the exit with all my heart, but the British chose a different path,” the prime minister told reporters on the threshold of the Downing Street residence.

Team from Notting Hill

David William Duncan Cameron was born in 1966 in London as the third child of four children. Cameron is a descendant of the English king William IV through his illegitimate daughter and a distant relativeQueen Elizabeth II. The prime minister's father, Ian Cameron, was disabled: he was born with deformed legs, which later had to be amputated, and was blind in one eye. Despite this, Cameron Sr. went on to a successful career as an investment manager. Cameron's mother worked as a justice of the peace.

David spent the first years of his life in London, then the family moved to the former rectory near the town of Newbury in Berkshire. At the age of seven, David entered Heatherdown, a prestigious private preparatory school for boys, which is called the main supplier of students for the prestigious Eton College. After school, Cameron also ended up in Eton, the forge of cadres of the ruling elite: before him, this college graduated 18 more British prime ministers. Cameron graduated from the University of Oxford in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in an interdisciplinary course in politics, philosophy and economics.

Cameron got his first experience of political work back in 1984, between Eton and Oxford, having settled for three months at the headquarters of Tim Rathbone, a member of parliament from the Conservative Party. After that, David spent three months in Hong Kong, where he worked as a shipping agent for Jardine Matheson. That same year, Cameron visited Soviet Union. He later told the BBC that during this trip to Yalta, two plainclothes KGB agents tried to recruit him.

While studying at Oxford, Cameron was not involved in politics. As Rathbone explained at the time, quoted by the BBC, he "wanted to enjoy life." During his studies at the university, Cameron was a member of the Bullingdon student club (from the word bully - a bully), whose members were known for daring antics and heavy drinking. Nevertheless, one of Cameron's teachers, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, called him one of the brightest students.

After graduating from university, Cameron got a job in the research department of the Conservative Party, where he worked for several years. There he worked in the team of future Home Secretary David Davis, who prepared speeches for party leader John Major. The group was called, among other things, a "gang of scoundrels", but the name "team from Notting Hill" was firmly attached to them, after the name of the area where most of the members of the group lived. Subsequently, on the basis of this team, Cameron will form his own government: it included the current Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of the Treasury) George Osborne, Minister of Justice Michael Gove, Minister of Culture Ed Vaizey, Minister for Enterprise Nicholas Bowles, head of the Prime Minister's secretariat Edward Llewelyn. The team was credited with developing the blueprint for the anti-Labor tax PR campaign that was one of the keys to the surprise victory of the Conservatives, led by John Major, in the 1992 parliamentary elections.

David Cameron, 2005 (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

New Conservative

In 1992, Cameron was appointed political adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Major's government, Norman Lamont. In this post, he caught "Black Wednesday" - the collapse of the pound on September 16, as a result of which the UK had to increase interest rate, devalue the pound, withdraw from the European Monetary System and release the pound into " free swimming". In the early 1990s, Cameron wanted to become an MP, but decided to gain experience outside of politics first. For seven years he worked as director of corporate communications for the British media group Carlton Communications. At the same time, in 1994 and 1997, he tried to participate in parliamentary elections, but both times he was unsuccessful.

Cameron managed to get a deputy mandate in the House of Commons in 2001 - from the Whitney district of Oxfordshire, when Sean Woodward, who occupied this place, moved to the Laborites. From that moment began the rapid ascent of Cameron on the political ladder. At first he was a member of the parliamentary committee on home affairs, and then received the post of Minister of Education in the shadow government of the Conservatives (then Labor was in power, led by Tony Blair).

Cameron played a key role in writing the party's 2005 election manifesto. Then he put forward his candidacy for the post of party leader. At the time, his chances of winning seemed slim: his competitors included his former patron David Davies, former shadow health secretary, party co-chairman Liam Fox, and veteran party member Kenneth Clark since the 1970s. The victory went to Cameron thanks to the image of the "new conservative" he built - young, modern, with liberal views, focused on the social agenda. At the Party Congress, he delivered an expressive speech without papers. It later became his signature style.

As the leader of the party, Cameron in the next five years enlisted significant support from voters against the backdrop of the fall of Labor's rating: he promoted cooperation with the European Union, was actively involved in education, the environment, the protection of the rights of women, migrants and sexual minorities. The media called him a populist: in the House of Commons, Cameron spoke on all sensitive issues. First, in 2003, for the outbreak of the war in Iraq, and then, in 2006, for investigating the circumstances of its outbreak. He voted against a fox-hunting ban, against Labor's proposed anti-terrorism laws, for a fully elected House of Lords and against a smoking ban.

Dangerous referendum

Cameron took over as head of government in 2010, at the age of 43, after the Conservatives won parliamentary elections for the first time since 1992. . There has not been such a young prime minister in Great Britain since 1812. However, the advantage of the conservatives was only 20 seats, so Cameron had tofor the first time since the Second World War, to form a coalition government in which the Liberal Democrats became partners of the conservatives.

David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth II, 2010

By this time, the issue of EU membership was already one of the most discussed in British society. The EU was considered a necessary evil in the country back in the 1970s, when the UK joined the union to avoid economic stagnation. Cameron was the main proponent of maintaining EU membership, but advocated for greater UK autonomy within the EU and against dependence on EU political decisions.

In January 2013, Cameron delivered a keynote speech in which he again stressed that he remained a supporter of keeping Britain in the European Union, but promised, if he won the next elections in 2015, to hold a national referendum on this issue and, in parallel, seek to expand the rights of the country in the EU. Having won the elections and having consolidated the advantage of the conservatives in parliament, the prime minister kept his word. In November 2015, he presented a memorandum to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, containing demands that, if not met, the UK threatened to leave the European Union.

Among the demands were a renunciation of the obligation to participate in building a closer political union, guarantees of financial non-participation in support of the euro, and additional restrictions on the entry of migrants from other EU countries. “We want to protect our country from further political integration with the EU and strengthen the power of our national parliament. Ever since we joined the EU [in the 1970s], Europe has been on the path to becoming a political union. We never wanted this,” Cameron said after the EU Council meeting on February 19, 2016. — I don't like Brussels, I love Britain. My job is to do everything in my power to protect our interests.”

Finally, an agreement. The UK gained the right to interpret the political decisions of the EU in its own way and achieved independence for its financial institutions. In addition, for seven years, from 2017 to 2023, the British government received the right not to pay social benefits to migrant workers from other European countries.

At the same time, it was agreed that the agreement would enter into force only if the UK notifies the EU Council of its decision to remain in the European Union. This could happen only after the results of the referendum.

The collapse of hopes

British Prime Minister David Cameron (Photo: Geoff Caddick/AP)

Cameron believed that reaching an agreement with the EU Council would incline society to the side of retaining membership in the European Union. He was going to use it as a factor in pressure on the EU and to attract new supporters. But the situation got out of control: many Brexit supporters turned out to be even among the members of his party. One of the leaders of the campaign for leaving the EU was a friend of Cameron's youth, Justice Minister Michael Gove. At the height of the campaign, Gove said the government had spent £9.3m ($13m) of taxpayer money on campaign pamphlets, which it "was not entitled to." In total, about 27 million brochures were printed. The Euroskeptic group Get Britain Out has launched a petition to stop the government campaign to agitate the population for the preservation of EU membership. An online petition on the government website was signed by more than 100,000 people.

Last March, one of the treasurers and main sponsors of the Conservative Party, billionaire Peter Cruddas, was at the center of the scandal: as the Sunday Times wrote, he offered his assistance in organizing secret meetings with Cameron and British Finance Minister George Osborne, who remained an opponent of Brexit and in obtaining insider information, and also offered the opportunity to influence public policy in exchange for donations to the party. On the day of publication, Cruddas resigned from the Treasury post.

In early April 2016, Cameron himself was at the center of a scandal: his name appeared in the Panama Archives, and he himself was suspected of tax evasion. On offshore, he reported to the British Parliament.

The campaign was greatly influenced by the position of one of the most popular politicians of the Conservative Party, the eccentric former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who joined the Brexit supporters. At the end of May, he said that "every year, only thanks to migration from EU countries, we add to Britain the population of an entire Oxford." Johnson accused Cameron of "giving away control of the immigration and refugee system forever" and that the system "has gotten out of hand." As the Times wrote, as a result of the influx of migrants, the UK population in 2015 exceeded 65 million for the first time. people, with almost 40% of migrants settling in London.

Back in early March, Cameron said that he would not resign if the British decided to leave the union. "No," he answered shortly in Parliament to a question from Labor Party spokesman Richard Burgon. By April Cameron's rating has fallen to 30%, the lowest since his appointment as prime minister.

Brexit is Cameron's political failure, the culprit of which is largely himself, the British newspaper Independent assessed the results of the campaign. As head of government, Cameron has made controversial and sometimes risky decisions before. Unlike his predecessors, he supported holding a referendum on Scottish independence. Contrary to the skepticism of British politicians, Cameron hoped that in this way he would enlist the support of the majority and this would save the country from a possible recurrence of this problem for many years. Then he won - in the fall of 2014, more than half of the population voted for the preservation of Scotland as part of the UK.

“During this campaign, I fought in the only way I knew how - directly and passionately saying what I think and feel - with my head, heart and soul. I didn’t hide anything,” Cameron told reporters on the afternoon of June 24, when the outcome of the Brexit referendum was already clear. “But the British people have made a very clear decision to go the other way, and the country needs new political leadership to take it in that direction.”

The UK will receive a new prime minister after Cameron's resignation in October 2016. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are among the top candidates for the post.

If not Cameron, then who?

David Cameron's resignation should occur before October 2016, when the annual conference of the Conservative Party takes place. The new prime minister will have to send a request to leave the European Union, Cameron confirmed.

To find a successor to Cameron, the Conservative Party, which has a majority in Parliament, must choose a new leader. According to the procedure, if there are several candidates, members of parliament from the party will vote for each candidate until only two candidates remain, of which a new leader will be elected by a general party vote (the party has about 150 thousand members in total). He will become prime minister.

British media call Boris Johnson the favorite of the race. Other potential contenders include Michael Gove, George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May. The latest major poll on the topic "Who would you support as the new leader of the Conservative Party?" conducted by sociological service YouGov in February 2016. Then the majority of respondents (43%) supported Johnson, another 22% supported Osborne.

It is possible that Cameron's resignation will lead to early parliamentary elections. Under British law, they can be held if two-thirds of the members of the House of Commons speak in favor of them. Tim Bale, a professor of political science at the Queen Mary University of London, told The Wall Street Journal that the Conservatives could initiate new elections to secure their majority in Parliament.

With the participation of Georgy Peremitin

British Prime Minister since May 2010. Leader of the British Conservative Party since 2005, member of the House of Commons since 2001. From 1994-2001, he was Director of Corporate Communications for the television broadcaster Carlton Communications. From 1992-1994 he worked as Special Adviser to the Treasury and Home Office in the UK.

David William Donald Cameron was born on October 9, 1966 in London to a wealthy and distinguished family. His father, Ian Donald Cameron, was a stockbroker and a direct descendant of King William IV of Great Britain (1765-1837). David's mother, Mary Fleur Mount, was the daughter of a baronet, and several of her grandfathers and great-grandfathers were Tory parliamentarians.

David Cameron attended the prestigious Hatherdown Preparatory School in Winkfield, Berkshire, where the sons of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, as well as the children of British billionaires, studied. In 1979, according to family tradition, David entered the elite Eton College. In May 1983, shortly before passing the first final exams, he was convicted of smoking marijuana, but since he confessed to his deed and did not distribute the drug among other students, he was not expelled, for some time depriving him of the right to go outside the college walls. Despite this episode, David did well at Eton at the end of 1984 and entered Braiznose College at Oxford University. Before starting classes at Oxford, Cameron was an assistant to the British MP from the Conservative Party Type Rathbone (Tim Rathbone), worked for about three months in Hong Kong in the Jardine Matheson Corporation. David returned to Europe from Hong Kong by rail, visiting Moscow and Yalta, where, according to his own words, they wanted to recruit him as an agent of the KGB of the USSR. At Braiznose, Cameron studied for a Bachelor of Arts in an interdisciplinary course in politics, philosophy, and economics.

After the Conservative victory in the 1992 election, Cameron was transferred to work for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was then Norman Lamont. In June 1993, he was appointed Special Adviser to the British Home Office, where he was responsible for briefing Minister Michael Howard, the future leader of the Conservative Party. In July 1994, Cameron stepped down as special adviser and took over as director of corporate communications for Carlton Communications. Cameron secured digital satellite rights for Carlton Communicatons. In February 2001, Cameron left the firm to participate in parliamentary elections.

After three unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons (in 1994, 1997 and 2000), in 2001 Cameron won the by-election from the Whitney constituency in Oxfordshire. After his election to the House of Commons, Cameron chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee, a prominent post, especially for a young parliamentarian. Cameron actively participated in the debates and became known as a good speaker. In July 2003, Cameron became a member of the "shadow cabinet", took the post of deputy shadow leader of the House of Commons Eric Forth (Eric Forth). In November 2003, following Smith's departure as party chairman, Cameron became the party's vice chairman under the new Conservative leader, Michael Howard. In May 2005, Cameron became shadow secretary of education.

In the next election, in May 2010, the Conservatives won, after which Cameron headed the UK government, which was created jointly by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.