THE LEGACY OF DAVID CAMERON

David Cameron will go down in history as the Prime Minister who unleashed the Brexit quake. Through his miscalculation, he has nailed his own coffin although he has put his head, heart and soul into the campaign. He inadvertently presided over the end of his country’s 43-year place in the European project. Educated at the elite boarding school of Eton and at Oxford University, the son of a stockbroker, he made his way steadily to politics and at the age of 49 he became the youngest Prime Minister of his country. History will judge him much less harshly for triggering the referendum than if the country goes wrong. He was elected leader of the Tories in 2005 and he formed a coalition with the Centrist Liberal Democrats – a coalition dominated by spending cuts as Britain emerged from recession. After 5 years in coalition, the Conservatives won a surprise clear majority in May 2015 general election, steering his party to be at the helm of power alone. He was proud of modernizing his party, leading it back to power in 2010 after 13 years in the wilderness. But under his leadership he has also known the disloyalty and betrayal of his most trusted lieutenants like Michael Gove (Minister of Justice) and Boris Johnson (the ex-Lord Mayor of London) of his own party.
During his prime ministership David Cameron waged an ideological war on inequalities. He tackled the problem of poverty amid the debris of inflation. He tried to clamp down on state engagement. “It is not just put money in the pockets of people but to put joy into their hearts”, so he said. One of the lasting legacies was to impose austerity measures under his tenure amid hue and cry. There were cuts in Britain’s welfare system; social benefits were axed across the spectrum. Cuts to the welfare state saw a myriad of disability benefits scrapped. He introduced harsher work capability assessments: more than 2300 people have died between 2011 and 2014 after being declared fit for work. In his electoral promises he has vouched not to cut the NHS. After 6 years the system’s finances are in a mess and emergency room waiting times are longer than ever. Finances of most NHS took a tumble with 600 million pounds surplus in 2010 turning into a deficit close to I billion pounds in just over 5 years. He introduced the dreaded bedroom tax. He brought UK from the abyss of economic recession to a growing economy. He brought down unemployment amid unpopular measures. He has promised to get immigration down below 100,000 but could not deliver and were he to do so, it would not be in the interest of the economy. He will be remembered as the leader who put the Conservatives to power but some say he brought Britain to the brink. During his tenure of office he legalized the gay marriage – a much controversial issue. His worst moment came when he thought that he might lose the Scottish referendum on the question of independence.