For the Record summary

A fresh-faced and young Conservative leader, David Cameron took over a party that had not just been hopelessly out of power for almost a decade. It was, in his opinion, also hopelessly out of touch with modern Britain. 

The party had consistently opposed positive social reforms, like reducing the pay gap between men and women. It was also totally unrepresentative of a modern, diverse Britain: At the 2005 election, only 17 of the 198 Conservative MPs were women. The Conservative Party was so white and male that when Cameron appointed his team of spokespeople his desire to build a diverse team was curtailed. In the end, his initial team contained more people named David than women.

For the most part, Cameron’s family were happy living at 10 Downing Street. The famous residence of the British prime minister is half offices, half family home. But for his children, there was no real distinction between the two. 

Once, Cameron recalled seeing a senior military adviser arriving through the front door for a meeting. In full dress uniform, bedecked in his medals, he might have been an intimidating sight. But not for the young Florence Cameron. Sitting on the hallway floor, Florence simply demanded to know what he was doing in her house.

Cameron’s first encounter with royalty came during his school years and was one to forget. As a schoolboy at Heatherdown, he read a Bible lesson at a carol service as the Queen sat in the front row. Unfortunately, he forgot the crucial "Thanks be to God" that comes at the end. Realizing this, as he stepped from the lectern, he panicked and let out an audible "oh shit!”

Thankfully the Queen forgot about this incident because Cameron would, as is traditional for the British prime minister, meet with her on a weekly basis while in office. 

In politics, clarity is important. 

Yet in 2010, the Conservatives campaigned on a confusing set of slogans about everything from budget deficit reduction to volunteering. As election campaigns go, it wasn’t a classic. As a result, the Conservatives failed to win a majority and had to govern in coalition for five years. 

On Wednesday, January 23, 2013, David Cameron made a momentous pledge. There was growing dissatisfaction with Britain’s membership of the European Union. Many felt that Britain wasn’t getting enough from its relationship with the EU. Cameron promised to sort this out. First, he would renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership, then he would call a referendum and put Britain’s position in the EU up for a vote. It was a momentous decision.

Cameron believed then, and still does today, that Brexit would be a mistake. So why did he call a referendum? 

While Cameron’s renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with the EU focused on a variety of areas, one was far more politically significant, and difficult, than the others: Immigration. 

Under EU laws, all member state citizens have the right to move to and work, live, and stay in other member states. This led to popular concerns in Britain, which in Cameron’s view were entirely legitimate, and which turned out to be major drivers of support for Brexit. 

Between May 2015 and February 2016, Cameron spent much of his life on planes, shuttling around European capitals and attending summits. Once, in a span of 48 hours, he ate lunch in Rotterdam, dined in Paris, had breakfast in Warsaw, and lunched again in Berlin. 

All this travel was an attempt to win EU support for a package of measures that, Cameron argued, would enshrine a “special status” for Britain: still a part of the EU but with greater freedom than before. 

Standing in front of a Typhoon fighter jet at a factory in northern England in early 2016, Cameron argued passionately that EU membership both allowed cooperation in security matters and made British people’s holidays cheaper. This, for him, was what UK membership in the EU was all about, the reason why Britain was “stronger, safer and better off in Europe.” But in pushing this line, Cameron and the Remain campaign found themselves up against the forces of populism in a “post-truth” world. 

For example, the Leave campaign was claiming that freedom of movement would lead to five million extra people coming to Britain by 2030. The focus of its incendiary messaging was Turkey, and it published posters stating that Turkey and its population of 76 million were joining the EU. This message implied that mass Turkish immigration to the United Kingdom would soon follow. It was an outrageous distortion of the truth. 

On referendum night, Cameron and his wife gathered with colleagues at 10 Downing Street to watch the results come in. They were feeling confident. But at midnight, a tighter-than-expected result in Newcastle caused some nerves. Twenty minutes later, the northern city of Sunderland announced a Leave result with a huge margin. At 2 a.m., Cameron’s 12-year-old daughter Nancy called it: "Dad," she said, "we’re losing." By 2.30 a.m., Cameron himself knew it was over. 

And for Cameron, losing meant not just huge consequences for Britain, but also that he would have to leave his job.