Premiership of David Cameron

Official portrait, 2010
Premiership of David Cameron 11 May 2010 – 13 July 2016
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Cabinet	Cameron–Clegg coalition Second Cameron ministry
Party	Conservative
Election	2010 2015
Seat	10 Downing Street
← Gordon Brown Theresa May →
Coat of Arms of HM Government

This article is part of a series about David Cameron
Political positions Electoral history The A-List Cameron Cutie MP for Witney Foreign Secretary Shadow Cabinet One-nation conservatism Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership International trips First ministry and term Cameron–Clegg coalition and agreement Bloody Sunday apology Spending, Strategic Defence, Balance of Competences reviews Military intervention in Libya (Operation Ellamy) Big Society Big Society Award National Citizen Service Alternative Vote referendum Phone hacking scandal 2011 riots Welfare Reform Act Health and Social Care Act London 2012 Summer Olympics Belfast City Hall flag protests Bloomberg speech Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 Woolwich attack Scottish independence referendum Royal Mail privatisation Post Office scandal Second ministry and term Second Cameron ministry Operation Shader Military intervention against ISIL in Iraq 2015–16 floods 2016 budget EU referendum Brexit Panama Papers 2016 Conservative Party leadership election Resignation Honours Post-premiership Greensill scandal Greased piglet For the Record Tenure as Foreign Secretary November 2023 British cabinet reshuffle
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David Cameron's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 11 May 2010 when he accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, and ended on 13 July 2016 upon his resignation following the 2016 referendum that favoured Brexit, which he had opposed. As prime minister, Cameron served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury and as Minister for the Civil Service.

Following the 2010 general election, Cameron became prime minister at the head of a coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, as no party had gained an overall majority in the House of Commons for the first time since the February 1974 general election. He appointed Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, as deputy prime minister. Between them, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats controlled 363 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 76 seats.^[1] Following the 2015 general election, Cameron was re-elected as prime minister, but this time at the head of a Conservative majority government with a parliamentary majority of 12 seats.^[2]

Cameron's premiership was marked by the ongoing effects of the late-2000s financial crisis; these involved a large deficit in government finances that his government sought to reduce through austerity measures. His administration passed the Health and Social Care Act and the Welfare Reform Act, which introduced large-scale changes to healthcare and welfare. It also enforced stricter immigration policies,^[3] introduced reforms to education and oversaw the 2012 London Olympics. It privatised the Royal Mail and some other state assets, and legalised same-sex marriage in England and Wales.

Internationally, Cameron's government intervened militarily in the First Libyan Civil War and authorised the bombing of the Islamic State. Domestically, his government oversaw the referendum on voting reform and Scottish independence referendum, both of which confirmed Cameron's favoured outcome. When the Conservatives secured an unexpected majority in the 2015 general election, he remained as prime minister, this time leading a Conservative-only government. To fulfil a manifesto pledge, he introduced a referendum on the UK's continuing membership of the EU. Cameron supported continued membership; following the success of the Leave vote,^[4] he resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by his Home Secretary Theresa May.^[4][5] Two months later, Cameron resigned from parliament.

Cameron has been praised for modernising the Conservative Party and for decreasing the United Kingdom's national deficit. However, he has been criticised for his decision to hold the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, which led to a period of political instability in the late 2010s. In historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom, academics and journalists have ranked Cameron in the fourth and third quintiles, respectively.