[G20 Summit] David Cameron

By Park Sae-jin Posted : November 7, 2010, 12:09 Updated : November 7, 2010, 12:09

**G20특별판 10일자 7면 대통령 소개란(영국총리)**

The United Kingdom’s David Cameron became prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in May 2010. He was first elected to parliament in 2001 as representative for Witney. Before becoming a politician Cameron worked for the Conservative Research Department and served as a political strategist and advisor to the Conservative Party. He has served as party leader since December 2005. Born in London, England, on October 9, 1966, Cameron received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford. He is married to Samantha Sheffield and had three children, one who passed away in 2009.

In the 2010 general election held on 6 May, the Conservatives gained a plurality of seats in a hung parliament and Cameron was appointed Prime Minister on 11 May 2010, at the head of a coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. At the age of 43, Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier. The Cameron Ministry is the first coalition government in the United Kingdom since the Second World War.

In the first month of Cameron's leadership, the Conservative Party's standing in opinion polls rose, with several pollsters placing it ahead of the ruling Labour Party. While the Conservative and Labour parties drew even in early spring 2006, following the May 2006 local elections various polls once again generally showed Conservative leads.

In December 2008, a ComRes poll showed the Conservative lead had decreased dramatically to a single point, though by February 2009 it had recovered to reach 12 points. A period of relative stability in the polls was broken in mid-December 2009 by a Guardian/ICM poll showing the Conservative lead down to nine points, triggering discussion of a possible hung parliament. In January 2010, a BPIX survey for The Mail on Sunday showed the lead unchanged.

Cameron describes himself as a "modern compassionate conservative" and has spoken of a need for a new style of politics, saying that he was "fed up with the Punch and Judy politics of Westminster". He has stated that he is "certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite."
 

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