On the day that a young man named David Cameron had his first interview to work in the Conservative Party, the party received a mysterious call from Buckingham Palace warning of the visit of an “exceptionally promising young man.” Nobody knows today who made it.
Educated at the elitist Eton School and then at Oxford, “Dave” (as his people know him), did not stand out especially for being a leader. He was an attractive guy, self-confident and surrounded by daughters of diplomats. He had an eloquent speech, but no one would have said that he was interested in politics. He preferred to play tennis, listen to Phil Collins and spend hours at “The Hi-Lo Café”, a Caribbean pub.
But he was very clear about his objectives and in 2010 he became the youngest prime minister since 1812. He was only 43 years old, compared to 65 years old. Winston Churchill when he first moved to Downing Street. Cameron modernized the party with historic laws such as gay marriage. There were high expectations placed on him, but in 2016 he was reduced to humiliation and ostracism. Brexit made him the most hated man in the United Kingdom, according to polls.
“Do you regret having held the referendum?” a journalist asked him in September 2019 when Westminster was in complete chaos. “No. But I’m sorry for losing it and for the difficulties we are having in implementing the result,” he responded before starting his session. running accompanied by his bodyguards.
Nobody, absolutely nobody expected his return to politics. But seven years after his resignation, he has returned as head of Foreign Affairs in the riskiest bet made by the current prime minister. Rishi Sunak when there is barely a year left until the next elections in which the Labor opposition has a lead of more than twenty points. Master move or pure desperation? What credibility does this give to Sunak when just a few days ago he presented himself as the “candidate of change”?
The current leader tory He defends that Cameron “is a person with great experience and will help the United Kingdom navigate the current difficult times.” His defenders – now in the minority – assure that the six years he spent as prime minister and the eleven years at the head of the party gave him a large number of contacts and praise a “personal, pleasant and serious style” as an effective diplomatic tool at a time of multiple international crises. “For moderate conservatives, centrists, fiscally conservative and socially liberal like me, it’s a good day,” he said. Ian Dalecolumnist for The Telegraphbible for tories.
However, the signing of Lord Cameron – it was necessary to put him in the unelected Upper House, since he did not have a seat – has further increased tensions in the party. The turn to the center that his figure represents greatly inflames the conservative hard core, who feel doubly betrayed, since the entry of the new Foreign Minister coincides with the dismissal of the radical Suella Braverman as Minister of the Interior.
On the other hand, his return also does not please the Sino-skeptics of the party, who do not view his close ties with China favorably. The state media of the Asian giant hope that the appointment “inspires a new stage in the relationship between both countries.” It was under his leadership that London and Beijing inaugurated a “new golden era” sealed with the beer that Cameron and Xi Jinping drank in 2015 at the local Checkers pub. And he has continued to maintain the relationships afterwards.
Without going any further, last September Cameron flew to the United Arab Emirates to raise investments for Port City Colombo, part of the extensive Chinese Silk Road plan with which it wants to increase its power and influence throughout Asia. The former conservative leader Iain Duncan Smithwhich has been sanctioned by Beijing for criticizing its human rights record, says there appear to be “clear conflicts of interest” in Cameron’s activities.
Although Tom Fletcher, a former diplomat, assures that Cameron’s view of China is more skeptical than they paint. «He believes that we should neither be best friends nor completely oppose them. His position was much closer to that of the United States, which is that there are some areas in which we need to cooperate, such as climate change and Artificial Intelligence,” he clarifies.
Fletcher interviewed the new foreign minister two months ago for a documentary Radio 4, when no one knew that he would later be appointed minister, where he stressed the importance of strengthening liberal democracies to confront autocracies like Russia. “I think he will be pragmatic and realistic in his work,” he clarifies.
Apart from the historic Brexit, Libya was in terms of long-term impact the other great disaster of its foreign policy, since the intervention of the United Kingdom and France contributed to the collapse of that State. Cameron was greeted as a hero in 2011 after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. But Libya later became another Iraq.
In any case, his return has been well received both in the EU and in Washington. Cameron meets the president Joe Bidenfrom the time he was vice president of Barack Obama. Likewise, he also knows the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrovand although relations between the United Kingdom and Russia are frozen due to the war in Ukraine – where last Thursday he made ((LINK:INTERNO|||Article|||65561969b5afb0e4c1c91a5a|||his first official trip to meet with Zelensky) )) the balance of power between the two men is perhaps more equal than previous relationships.
The new head of British diplomacy also has strong ties with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Before Sunak visited the Middle East at the start of the current crisis, Cameron was the last British prime minister to visit Israel and the West Bank, in 2014.
On the other hand, he also has a close relationship with the controversial Saudi crown prince. Mohamed bin Salmanwith whom he has met on several occasions, some not without controversy, such as when they shared a private luxury trip in the desert while Cameron worked for Greensill Capital, the financial firm he advised after leaving his position and which went bankrupt in 2021. The former leader tory He was at the center of the controversy after sending text messages and emails to the Government so that the company had access to certain loans.
In short, many pending challenges and little public support. After his signing, the Labor opposition has further increased its lead in the polls.
