David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, positions he has occupied since December 2005.
Cameron has been involved in British politics for much of his adult life. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont (serving during Black Wednesday), and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years; the company chairman described him as "board material".
A first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997 ended in defeat but Cameron was elected in 2001 as Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. Promoted to the Opposition front bench two years after entering Parliament, he rose rapidly to be head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign.
Cameron won the Conservative leadership later that year after presenting himself as a young and moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters. His leadership had seen the Conservative Party establish a lead in opinion polls, but in the aftermath of a row over the party's policy on grammar schools and the ascension of Gordon Brown to the prime minister's office, Labour regained its lead in major polls, .