David Cameron, (born Oct. 9, 1966, London, Eng.), British politician and prime minister (2010–16). He was the United Kingdom’s youngest prime minister since 1812, and he led Britain’s first coalition government since World War II. Cameron, a descendant of King William IV, was born into a family with both wealth and an aristocratic pedigree. After graduating from Oxford, he worked as an adviser to Conservative Party politicians. He spent most of the 1990s in the private sector and entered the House of Commons as a Conservative in 2001. His youth, charisma, and moderate views inspired comparisons to Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. Cameron quickly advanced through the Conservative ranks, and he was elected party leader in 2005. He presided over a period of increasing Conservative popularity, culminating in the general election of May 2010. Although the Conservatives fell short of outright majority, Cameron was able to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats and became prime minister. In 2014 Cameron played a crucial role in persuading Scottish voters to reject a referendum on independence from the U.K., and the next year his party won an outright majority in the general election. When British voters chose to leave the European Union in a referendum in 2016, a step strongly opposed by Cameron, he resigned as party leader and prime minister.
