David Cameron - For the Record

William Collins

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London SE1 9GF

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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019

Copyright © David Cameron 2019

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover photograph © Chris Floyd

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008239329

Ebook Edition: September 2019 ISBN: 9780008239305

Version: 2020-09-10

For Samantha

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright

4 Dedication

5 Contents

6 List of Illustrations

7 Foreword

8 1 Five Days in May

9 2 A Berkshire Boy

10 3 Eton, Oxford … and the Soviet Union

11 4 Getting Started

12 5 Samantha

13 6 Into Parliament

14 7 Our Darling Ivan

15 8 Men or Mice?

16 9 Hoodies and Huskies

17 10 Cliff Edge, Collapse and Scandal

18 11 Going to the Polls

19 12 Cabinet Making

20 13 Special Relationships

21 14 Afghanistan and the Armed Forces

22 15 Budgets and Banks

23 16 Nos 10 and 11 – Neighbours, Friends and Families

24 17 Progressive Conservatism in Practice

25 18 Success and Failure

26 19 Party and Parliament

27 20 Leveson

28 21 Libya and the Arab Spring

29 22 Referendum and Riots

30 23 Better Together

31 24 Treaties and Treadmills

32 25 Omnishambles

33 26 Coalition and Other Blues

34 27 Wedding Rings, Olympic Rings

35 28 Resignations and Reshuffles

36 29 Bloomberg

37 30 The Gravest Threat

38 31 Sticking to ‘Plan A’

39 32 Love is Love

40 33 A Slow-Moving Tragedy

41 34 Leading for the Long Term

42 35 A Distinctive Foreign Policy

43 36 The Long Road to 2015

44 37 Junckernaut

45 38 A ‘Small Island’ in a Small World

46 39 Back to Iraq

47 40 Scotland Remains

48 41 The Sweetest Victory

49 42 A Conservative Future?

50 43 Rolling Back the Islamic State

51 44 Trouble Ahead

52 45 Renegotiation

53 46 Referendum

54 47 The End

55 Picture Section

56 Index

57 About the Author

58 About the Publisher

Landmarks CoverFrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter

List of Pages iii iv v ix x xi xiii xiv xv xvi xvii xviii xix xx xxi xxii xxiii 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304305306307308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355356357358359360361362363364365366367368369370371372373374375376377378379380381382383384385386387388389390391392393394395396397398399400401402403404405406407408409410411412413414415416417418419420421422423424425426427428429430431432433434435436437438439440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464465466467468469470471472473474475476477478479480481482483484485486487488489490491492493494495496497498499500501502503504505506507508509510511512513514515516517518519520521522523524525526527528529530531532533534535536537538539540541542543544545546547548549550551552553554555556557558559560561562563564565566567568569570571572573574575576577578579580581582583584585586587588589590591592593594595596597598599600601602603604605606607608609610611612613614615616617618619620621622623624625626627628629630631632633634635636637638639640641642643644645646647648649650651652653654655656657658659660661662663664665666667668669670671672673674675676677678679680681682683684685686687688689690691692693694695696697698699700701702703 705706707708709710711712713714715716717718719720721722723724725726727728729730731732

With John Major (Neil Libbert)

Norman Lamont gives a press conference on Black Wednesday (Bott/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

Campaign in Witney for leader of the Conservative Party (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

With Samantha, Ivan, Elwen, Nancy (Tom Stoddart/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Conservative party conference in Blackpool (Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs/Getty Images)

Press conference after the second ballot for the 2005 leadership contest (Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

Leadership election win (Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

Sudan visit (Andrew Parsons/PA Images)

With George Osborne (Andrew Parsons)

Dog sled in Svalbard, Norway (Andrew Parsons/PA Images)

Speaking on Big Society (Andrew Parsons)

In Balsall Heath with Abdullah Rehman (James Fletcher)

With Boris Johnson (Andrew Parsons)

Statement at St Stephen’s Club on the possibility of a hung Parliament (Lefteris Pitarakis/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Watching Gordon Brown’s resignation (Andrew Parsons)

Arrival in Downing Street with George Osborne and William Hague (Andrew Parsons)

First press conference with Nick Clegg after the coalition agreement (Andrew Parsons)

The door of Number 10 with Margaret Thatcher (Andrew Parsons)

Afghanistan visit (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)

Hamid Karzai’s visit to Chequers (Andrew Parsons)

Bloody Sunday inquiry statement (Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images)

Signing the independence referendum agreement with Alex Salmond (Gordon Terris/Pool/Getty Images)

Speaking in Benghazi (Philippe Wojazer/AFP/Getty Images)

Meeting local residents in Benghazi (Stefan Rousseau/AFP/Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II attends the government’s weekly cabinet meeting (Jeremy Selwyn/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The Olympic torch arrives in Downing Street (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Florence at the Alternative Vote referendum campaign (Andrew Parsons)

Barack Obama meeting Larry the cat (White House/Alamy)

Meeting with Barack Obama at the Camp David G8 (Obama White House)

G8 and EU leaders at the Britain G8 Summit (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

With Vladimir Putin at the Olympics (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

With Angela Merkel at Chequers (Justin Tallis/Pool/Getty Images)