For the Record Book Summary - For the Record Book explained in key points
Listen to the Intro
00:00

For the Record summary

David Cameron

An honest account from a prime minister who truly altered his country’s course

4.4 (56 ratings)
31 mins
Table of Contents

    For the Record
    Summary of 10 key ideas

    Audio & text in the Blinkist app
    Key idea 1 of 10

    David Cameron enjoyed an old-fashioned upbringing. 

    Even as a young boy, David Cameron knew he was privileged. 

    His upbringing and education were, by his own admission, something of an English upper-middle-class cliché. His parents had inherited money. After living briefly in Kensington, a well-to-do neighborhood in London, the family moved to a pleasant village called Peasemore, not far from the capital. Cameron’s parents were warm and loving, but nonetheless, he was sent off to boarding school at the age of seven. 

    The boarding school in question, Heatherdown, was tiny and exclusive. Prince Edward was a pupil there. Cameron’s elder brother, Alex, even became friends with the prince and visited him at Windsor Castle.

    The school was rather antiquated. When it was time for baths, Cameron and his fellow pupils would line up, naked, in front of a row of Victorian metal tubs. They had to wait until they heard the headmaster blow his whistle before they were permitted to climb in. The boys then bathed, enveloped in foul-smelling smoke emanating from the headmaster’s ever-present pipe. 

    After Heatherdown, he – like his father and grandfather before him – attended England’s most famous school, Eton College. And there, for a time, he felt rather mediocre. Uninspired by work, he fell in with the wrong crowd. Before he knew it, he was regularly sneaking out with friends to smoke cannabis. Eton is not a normal school, and sneaking out was far from normal also: it involved renting a rowboat and rowing out to an island in the river Thames, where he and friends would roll a joint and get high.

    This habit didn’t last long. Rounded up and interrogated by the headmaster during a school-wide crackdown on drug users, Cameron thought he would be expelled, as several of his friends were. 

    He got away with a lesser punishment – a fine and the enforced, pointless transcription of one of Virgil’s Georgics poems in Latin. Cameron was incredibly relieved and determined to make more of an effort in life. 

    It was a huge turning point. From then on, Cameron was a student transformed. Successful results at Eton led to a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics degree at Oxford. Afterward, in 1988, he found work in the Conservative Party’s research department. 

    Rising through the ranks, Cameron became an adviser to the then-chancellor of the exchequer, Norman Lamont. And while he left Westminster for a brief spell in business, his desire to be in politics never went away. Elected Conservative member of Parliament (MP) for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney in 2001, he became leader of his party just four years later, in 2005. 

    Want to see all full key ideas from For the Record?

    Key ideas in For the Record

    More knowledge in less time
    Read or listen
    Read or listen
    Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
    Find your next read
    Find your next read
    Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
    Shortcasts
    Shortcasts New
    We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

    What is For the Record about?

    In For the Record (2019), David Cameron gives a behind-the-scenes account of his life, career, and time as prime minister. He opens up about his upper-class upbringing, his school life, and his family. He describes how he tried to push the Conservative Party toward a more modern outlook on the world and reflects on the decisions that led to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. 

    Best quote from For the Record

    I made the pledge because I genuinely thought it was the right thing for Britain.

    —David Cameron
    example alt text

    Who should read For the Record?

    • Political animals
    • Anyone who wants to understand why Brexit happened 
    • Modern Conservatives

    About the Author

    David Cameron grew up in Berkshire, England, and was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. He was elected as Conservative member of Parliament for Witney in 2001, became party leader in 2005, and served as prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland between 2010 and 2016. Whatever else he might have achieved in power, he may go down in history as the leader who ushered in Brexit – Britain’s departure from the European Union.

    Categories with For the Record

    Books like For the Record

    People ❤️ Blinkist
    Sven O.

    It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

    Thi Viet Quynh N.

    Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

    Jonathan A.

    Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

    Renee D.

    Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.

    People also liked

    Start growing with Blinkist now
    27 Million
    Downloads on all platforms
    4.7 Stars
    Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
    91%
    Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
    *Based on survey data from Blinkist customers
    Powerful ideas from top nonfiction

    Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.

    Start your free trial