LONDON (AP) – When David Cameron was elected leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, the press called him the “heir to Blair.” Like Labour premier Tony Blair, he was a young leader who dragged his sometimes reluctant party toward the political center.
Cameron steps down Wednesday after six years as prime minister – like Blair, defined by a historic blunder.
For Blair, it was the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For Cameron, it was the decision to call a referendum on Britain’s European Union membership. He gambled that voters would choose to remain, after a cathartic debate that would resolve Conservative Party divisions on Europe.
Instead, Britain voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave – and a tearful Cameron announced his resignation the next morning, saying “I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”He was due to stay on until the party picked a new leader in September, but on Monday Home Secretary Theresa May was chosen as Conservative chief after her last opponent dropped out. British politics can be brutal – the moving vans were pulling up to 10 Downing St. the next day.
Cameron’s six-year term as prime minister will be remembered for its sudden, self-inflicted end. But historian Anthony Seldon said there were substantial achievements, too.