Eleven years ago, I was one of the small handful of people working to make David Cameron the next Leader of the Conservative Party. In the early days, the media joked that you could fit all of us into a London Taxi. Our team included both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. David Cameron won in 2005 because he had worked out what the country really needed after Tony Blair. In power, his patience and pragmatism made coalition with the Lib Dems work. I wish he had stayed after the referendum. He did not need to resign. He could have shared power with a negotiating team and converted defeat in the referendum into a truly great legacy.
However, he didn’t want to continue, so Conservatives must now calmly work out what characteristics we need in our next Prime Minister. This contest comes at a difficult time. We have just been through a divisive referendum campaign that split our party down the middle and now we need to have a five way contest over who should be our leader and what is required next.
In 2005, we had suffered three consecutive General Election defeats and we needed something new: a leader who could broaden the appeal of the Conservative Party, connect with a new generation and offer a refreshing vision of how traditional Conservative values could be recast to tackle modern social challenges and disadvantage.
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