David Cameron was educated at England's most prestigious school, Eton College. He then attended Brasenose College, Oxford University, where he achieved a first class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He became Member of Parliament for Witney at the 2001 general election. Following the Conservatives' third election defeat to Tony Blair's Labour, Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, beating the older right-winger David Davis. Cameron was dubbed the "heir to Blair" due to his uncanny similarity in looks, speech and style to the Labour Prime Minister. He embarked on a modernizing programme for the Tories, which included apologizing for Margaret Thatcher's Section 28, which had banned the promotion of homosexual relationships to children by local authorities.Following Blair's departure from the position of Prime Minister in 2007, Cameron gained ground against Blair's replacement, the dour Gordon Brown. In the 2010 general election, Cameron became Prime Minister by forming a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. He also became the youngest Prime Minister in almost 200 years. He continued his modernization programme and introduced same-sex marriage with the support of the Lib Dems, despite opposition from a majority of his own parliamentary party. However, he became worried by the continuing split in the Conservative Party over Britain's membership of the European Union and the threat of UKIP, led by charismatic ex-Tory Nigel Farage. He promised a national referendum on the issue if he won the 2015 general election. He won the election but lost the referendum the following year, resulting in his decision to immediately resign as Prime Minister. He said introducing same-sex marriage was his greatest achievement in government in his final speech to the House of Commons. Show less «