David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October, 1966) is the leader of the British Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, positions he has occupied since December 2005.

Cameron has been involved in British politics for much of his adult life. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years.

A first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997 ended in defeat but Cameron was elected in 2001 as Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. Promoted to the Opposition front bench two years after entering Parliament, he rose rapidly to be head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. politics/4651553.stm" target="_blank">"Contender: David Cameron", BBC News Online, 29 September _2005, accessed 6 November 2006

Cameron won the Conservative leadership later that year after presenting himself as a young and moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters. His early leadership saw the Conservative Party establish a lead in opinion polls over Tony Blair's Labour for the first time in over ten years. When Gordon Brown replaced Blair as Labour leader and Prime Minister, Labour regained its lead. Julian Glover and Patrick Wintour, blank">"Brown effect propels Labour to election-winning lead", _The Guardian, 30 June 2007, accessed 30 June 2007 Christopher Adams, blank">"'Brown bounce' adds to talk of poll", _Financial Times, 29 June 2007, accessed 30 June 2007 However, in mid October 2007, the Conservatives again overtook Labour in the polls, after Brown was seen to be indecisive over calling an election.