To miss David Cameron?

[Yellowredandbrown]

Probably won’t be popular but I do.

He was a Tory but a moderate one.

I know some people hold him personally responsible for brexit but I have never subscribed to that view. It was a pressing question that needed answering. I do think he should have done more to show the benefits of being in the EU.

I wish we could have kept him.

Are you kidding? You don't hold him responsible for Brexit? And what about austerity? Do you think the NHS would be in the state of tears now without him? He will go down in history as one of the worst prime ministers ever.

Honestly to both, no, and yes. I think there was always going to be a vote regarding the EU. I just don’t think people wanted to be in it.

I do think something was needed regarding a shake up of the benefits system. No desire to be cruel or harsh but pre 2010 I do remember the benefits system as it was and it just wasn’t sustainable.

I think compared to Truss - bring him back!

I miss Theresa May! Definitely not Cameron

His arrogance led to Brexit. That and his love of power. He was so afraid to lose the far right of his party that he offered the referendum, and too arrogant to consider he might lose.

If he had been more courageous, the better thing to do was to accept that he and the party lose power in the better interests of the country.

It was a pressing question that needed answering.

I disagree. It was a fringe issue that most people didn’t care about that much until certain politicians and parts of the press started banging the drum with misleading (and often plainly untrue) stories. He presided over the giving away of the rights of millions over an ideological handbag scrap within the edges of his own party and as a punishment for pushing through the gay marriage legislation.

Cameron fucked over this country comprehensively and is, along with Johnson, typical of the ‘educated fool, born to rule’ Etonian type.

If he had listened to Nicola Sturgeon who told him that the referendum should include the proviso that every country in the union should agree to leave before we did leave, then we wouldn't be in this mess. He didn't like her and wouldn't listen to her.

I don't think it was wrong to hold a referendum but he massively fucked up the execution and timing of it.

His terrible economic policies led to a decade of stagnation and crippling underinvestment in public services.

Still I agree that, compared to what came after, he looks competent.

If you miss Cameron, it just shows how bad the current shower of shit are.

The joint architect of austerity politics, trashing support for women and families and the sheer incompetent mismanagement of the referendum?

Good grief no.

I think the coalition looked vaguely competent because, frankly, Nick Clegg and some of the other senior Lib Dems were pretty competent. It was when Cameron got in on his own that it all went to shit, extremely quickly.

He’s an ignorant pig. He systematically dismantled onshore wind, and the growing domestic solar industry by removing the subsidies when it was just a year away from not needing them. Several firms went bust near me and people lost their livelihoods. Think how much more energy secure we would be (as a nation and individuals) and how much stronger the UK’s exports would be if they’d developed the green power industry rather than stamping on it and diverting the subsidies to fossil fuels.

And Brexit? That referendum could have been handled differently of course but more importantly, there were all sorts of powers and perks we had as an EU member that his government just didn’t bother to take advantage of.

I cannot imagine how anybody could possibly miss any Tory Party leader. Each one has contributed to dragging the UK to hell in a handcart.

I know some people hold him personally responsible for brexit but I have never subscribed to that view.

It’s not a “view” that needs subscribing to - it’s factual.

He was the Leader of the Opposition in 2010 who argued for a referendum and made it a manifesto promise.

He again in 2015 drove through the promise of renegotiated terms followed by a referendum

How, as Leader in two successive election windows, can he not be held responsible? Who is responsible then?

It was a pressing question that needed answering.

so why wasn’t it answered under Thatcher, Major? The Tory party was always held together uneasily by the fact that Europe was one they all disagreed on, but had to stay together on for the sake of party unity.

Cameron blew that apart for one simple reason - a real fear of UKIP ( electorally unfounded as it happens) sapping and drawing away the votes of his party.

he had the arrogance to think he could end the debate and unify his party through “resubmitting” the status quo. He never thought he could lose.

I do think he should have done more to show the benefits of being in the EU.

can you think of a benefit more powerful than “change?” If you’re the status quo and you’re arguing for it, then your argument needs to be substantively better than “change” which always has an allure far beyond anything else

with the greatest respects @Yellowredandbrown i don’t think you’re completely well versed on Cameron, Brexit or any of this.

IT continues a long term theme of Tory short termism and a lack of investment in the UK infrastructure that really matters.

I didn’t know that.

FFS. Why didn’t he do that?

For an “advisory” referendum they stated banging on about a “mandate from the people” pretty quickly.

The Brexit referendum was a massive fuck up caused by his arrogance.

It wasn't necessarily wrong to have a referendum but it was poorly planned. It was utterly inappropriate to ask a single yes/no question on such a complex topic and it was stupid not to include some kind or scope or boundaries.

Leaving us with a 49/51 result for a massive change with the 51% not even capable of agreeing what they wanted was madness sure to end in disaster.

I think the coming economic shit show is going to make austerity era look like a walk in the park.

I did not like David Cameron’s policies but he made rational economic decisions at least (if not humanitarian choices).

Theresa May would have been better than the current lot but she didn’t have the authority in her party to get things through.

It’s Blair and Brown I want back. Without the war-mongering though.

This is very true and it goes back a long way; to the 1960s if not earlier. It’s why Germany has the infrastructure and solid manufacturing base that it has; long-term political thinking.

It doesn't have to be Christmas to know you're sitting next to a Turkey.

I thought he was ok for a Tory, especially compared to the ones we have now.
BUT I will never forgive him for Brexit, nobody really cared much about The EU apart from Farage and The Daily Mail - it was all about keeping certain sections of his party quiet and consolidating his own position and we all paid the price

This.

All he cared about was staying in power, and he personally destroyed the country in the process.

Nobody ever 'has' to hold a referendum. Referenda are fundamentally undemocratic. It's basically asking people to vote on an issue they don't have a full understanding of and then using that (hopefully) as a rationale for saying, "We'll have to do what I want now because the country has demanded it." Of course, in Cameron's case, it didn't work.

You vote for your Member of Parliament to make decisions on your behalf, because they're paid to do so and supposedly have a grasp of the issues at hand (again, because they're paid to do so). That's why we don't have referenda about fracking, the budget, the cost of single-use plastic bags... And if you don't like the way your MP is voting, you lobby them.

I agree.

Every prime minister looks better in hindsight . 5 minutes after Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, people thought they wanted Teresa May back, now with the (ongoing) financial shitshow some people want BJ back....😳

I blame David Cameron for Brexit
but if the right Milliband brother had been Labour party leader he might not have got the chance

Brexit was a non-issue for the vast majority of people until they were convinced otherwise. Don't believe me? Then how about straight from the horse's mouth...