You Belong Here
So much is in store for you at Lesley University! Now that you’ve been accepted, RSVP for our exclusive celebration for new undergraduate and Threshold students for Saturday, April 27.

David Cameron will address Lesley University's Boston Speakers Series on October 11, 2017.

As a preview to Mr. Cameron's lecture, a professor's prologue has been written by Ronald Lamothe, Associate Professor at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 

David Cameron is a great admirer of Benjamin Disraeli, the illustrious British statesman and novelist who twice served as Prime Minister (1868 and 1874–1880). Although debated by historians, in the Conservative pantheon Disraeli is considered the original “One-nation Tory” and the progenitor of one-nation conservatism—a political philosophy that sees society as organic, and values pragmatism and paternalism over ideology and individualism. It was Disraeli’s fear, elaborated in his 1845 “Young England” novel Sybil, that if the ruling class did not live up to its noblesse oblige, his society would devolve further into “two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws…the rich and the poor.”

Indeed, many commentators have likened Cameron’s own compassionate conservatism and “one-nationism” to that of Disraeli’s “Tory democracy.” In his first speech as Prime Minister in 2010 he stated, “I want to help try and build a more responsible society here in Britain. One where we don't just ask what are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities. One where we don't ask what am I just owed, but more what can I give. And a guide for that society—that those that can should, and those who can't we will always help.” Five years later he was re-elected Prime Minister, forming the first Conservative majority government in twenty-three years, and again pledged to “bring our country together…govern as a party of one nation, one United Kingdom…It means giving everyone in our country a chance so that no matter where you’re from you have the opportunity to make the most of our life. It means giving the poorest people the chance of training, a job, and hope for the future.”

There is often a great divide, however, between one’s political vision and the realities of governance, between hopeful election slogans and democratic inertia, not to mention the balancing act of ruling from the center. Excellent communication skills and media savvy can only get you so far. Just ask Barack Obama. Both Cameron and Obama came to power in the wake of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis, both with a seeming mandate for economic and social reform, and yet neither leader was able to advance much of his political agenda, opposed as they both were by the far-right wing. Despite some noteworthy accomplishments during his premiership, not least of which was the passing of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in 2013 and the creation of some two million new private sector jobs, Cameron, again like Obama in the United States, was unable to appreciably stem the ever-increasing disparity of wealth in the United Kingdom over the course of his political tenure.

David Cameron’s biggest gamble of course was the 2016 European Union referendum. It ended in victory for Brexit, and a stunning defeat for Cameron, who resigned as Prime Minister and soon thereafter decided to walk away from politics completely. How future historians judge that gamble, and more broadly, his eleven years leading the Conservative Party, remains to be seen. Clio, the muse of history, is a fickle one, and it is likely that Cameron’s standing in the historiography of the United Kingdom will change with the times. Of course, even his political hero, Benjamin Disraeli, once revered as the father of the modern Conservative party, has received some less than favorable reviews by recent historians, and is often now seen as neither the founder of one-nation conservatism, nor so instrumental in many of the political reforms that marked his time as Prime Minister.

Cameron’s favorite book is the 1929 Robert Graves World War I memoir Good-bye to All That. Ironically, despite the satirical tone of the autobiography and his own declaration that he was putting the war, and England, behind him forever, Robert Graves once again volunteered for infantry service when war broke out in 1939 (assigned only to “a sedentary appointment,” he turned it down and went back to writing). Will David Cameron, himself having said “good-bye to all that” last year, do the same, and someday return for another go in Parliament, or even 10 Downing Street? That is a question that only he can answer, and only time will tell.