The good, the bad, and the unknown: David Cameron’s legacy

Today, the 13th of July 2016, David Cameron has finished his last Prime Minister’s Questions, and will no longer be the Prime Minister of the UK after resigning due to the successful Leave vote. The UK will now be in the hands of his Home Secretary, Theresa May. Cameron’s political career started on the 7th of June in 2001, where he assumed office in constituency of Witney. Despite his relatively early arrival, he became leader of the Conservative Party just over four years later in December 2005, replacing Michael Howard. Cameron capitalised on the Great Recession of 2007/8, leading his Party into coalition with Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats. As Prime Minister for just over six years, he oversaw a Coalition, a slim-Conservative majority and two referendums. It therefore begs the question: what is David Cameron’s legacy?

The Good

Theresa May once famously described the Conservative Party as the ‘Nasty Party’ in 2002, and its negative image continued to fester. David Cameron sought to revitalise the Conservative Party, modernising its roots and core values. One of his biggest facets was the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The legislation caused rifts in the Conservative Party, with those who believed marriage was between a man-and-a-woman only and ‘Compassionate Conservatives’. Despite this, Cameron continued to pursue and promote the policy even if it cost his job, with UKIP taking advantage. Cameron fought for what he thought was right; it was a worthy sacrifice. The bill successfully passed, but with the majority of Conservative MPs voting against it only Labour’s support rescued it.

The economy was at the heart of the Cameron-Osborne partnership, coining the valueless, but incredibly electable platitude; ‘Long Term Economic Plan’. Its message was short and easily digestible – devoid of any substance, but this is politics in a nutshell. It became the slogan of the Conservative Party, rehearsed and repeated by its MPs like zombies. Cameron and Osborne cemented the perception of economic credibility, albeit with some help from the incompetence of Miliband and Balls. The Conservatives became synonymous with the policy of austerity, and moved the political arena to the extent where Labour were ‘austerity-lite’. Under Cameron’s premiership, the UK averaged 1066 job creations per day, the unemployment rate falling from 7.9% to 5% – a fantastic record on the surface, in spite of Conservative’s economic policies. Scratch underneath, and it reveals an increase in zero-hours contracts, stagnant wages and a big rise in self-employment.

Cameron’s legacy will be dominated by the most important facet to any organisation, political or not; survival. He led a Coalition in 2010 – the first since the Second World War – between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, ensuring (short-term) stability the political frontier of the UK. In 2014, Scotland remained a part of the United Kingdom. In 2015, Cameron won the “too close to call” election. As a politician he triumphed, his PMQ responses were witty, simple and amusing – his job was to appeal the electorate and that is what he did, for better or for worse.

Cameron’s legacy will be the Prime Minister haunted by an asterisk, his successes come with strings attached. He has undoubtedly benefited from his Coalition partners backtracking on their key policies and betrayal of their voters, in particular the trebling of tuition fees.

The Bad

Cameron will now forever be known as the Prime Minister who gambled with his country’s future to maintain his Party’s political power. The 2015 Conservative manifesto was filled with pledges that could be sacrificed in negotiations with a Coalition partner, most likely the Liberal Democrats. One of those promises was a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. Cameron will be known as the Prime Minister who lost the EU referendum.

Cameron will also be known for more trivial matters. He once left his eight-year-old daughter at a pub, not a very Prime Ministerial move. During his University years, it is alleged that Cameron put a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig.

But not all of his negatives are as light-hearted. Under Cameron’s leadership, facilitated by the Australian political guru (Sir) Lynton Crosby, the Conservative Party engaged with divisive and fear-tactics to win the 2015 election. They turned citizens against immigrants and refugees through May’s vans and describing them as ‘swarms’. Zac Goldsmith’s London Mayoral campaign pitched Muslims as dangerous and extremists, supported by Cameron but condemned by many Conservative politicians. Cameron painted a future that under Labour: the United Kingdom would no longer exist, you would no longer have economic, political and traditional security. Isn’t it ironic that this is starting to unravel under his Party and his governance? His desired legacy of ‘unity’ will be anything but.

The Unknown

A glance at history and it shows how people’s legacies are constantly being re-written and re-interpreted, and are unlikely to be written down at the immediate event. Thatcher’s economic legacy is being re-written since the Great Recession of 2007/8, and Miliband’s changes to Labour membership has scarred his. A lot of Cameron’s legacy is yet to be written or noticed until the future.

Cameron’s legacy is primarily dependent on the outcome of the UK’s relationship with the EU, and therefore dependent upon May’s premiership. If the United Kingdom breaks up due to ‘Brexit’, then it stems from Cameron’s role as Prime Minister. If the UK economy collapses due to Brexit, then it is down to his tunnelled, conflict-of-interest leadership. It will be unlikely that Cameron would receive much praise if the UK gained from Brexit, rather it would be perceived as May’s leadership which steered the boat through the stormy sea.

Cameron’s economic legacy can easily be diminished through a change in direction from May. Osborne’s reversal of his surplus bill was the beginning. It tarnishes the economic competency of the Conservative Party. A reversal from austerity to stimulus – whilst makes economic sense – shows the flawed and disingenuous nature of Cameron and Osborne’s austerity measures which would have caused huge amounts of unnecessary misery to millions of people. If this were to happen, Cameron’s legacy will be that of a damp cloth.