Toby Young Toby Young

David Cameron is more authentic than Boris Johnson

issue 21 September 2019

I don’t recall exactly when I first met David Cameron, but it must have been in Oxford in 1985 shortly after the beginning of Michaelmas term. I was a third year at Brasenose studying PPE and he was a first year, also doing PPE.

I remember him being friendly and down to earth and canny enough to keep his political views to himself. At the time, Brasenose was dominated by a group calling itself the ‘left caucus’ and while it wasn’t social suicide to be identified as a Tory, it was a bit infra dig. After Cameron twigged that we were both ‘in the closet’, so to speak, he confessed to me that he was a Thatcherite. ‘Dry as dust,’ he whispered.

He certainly didn’t lack for self-confidence, but he didn’t want to attract any hostility either. He was cautious and alert when venturing into the college bar or the Junior Common Room, like someone on safari who’d decided to get out of the Land Rover to take a closer look at the wildlife.

To be fair, there was no element of condescension about it; he seemed genuinely curious about people from different backgrounds.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in