Six years, two months and three days after taking office, David Cameron stood outside the steps of 10 Downing Street and spoke for a final time as the UK’s Prime Minister.
Addressing the nation, he talked about his pride of leading the country.
As with all things political, it has not been an easy ride, and Cameron acknowledged that there were decisions that he may have got wrong in the past.
However, touching upon his most notable achievements whilst in office, he conferred that he believes the country ‘is in a much stronger position’ today than when he took up the country’s top job.
“It has not been an easy journey, and of course we have not got every decision right, but I do believe that today our country is much stronger,” he said.
“Above all, it was about turning around the economy. And with the deficit cut by two-thirds, two and a half million more people in work and one million more businesses, there can be no doubt that our economy is immeasurably stronger.
“Politicians like to talk about policies, but in the end it is about people’s lives.
“I think of the people doing jobs who were previously unemployed. I think of the businesses that were just ideas in someone’s head and that today are making a go of it and providing people with livelihoods.
“I think of the hard-working families paying lower taxes and getting higher wages because of the first ever National Living Wage.
“I think of the children who were languishing in the care system and who have now been adopted by loving families.
“I think of the parents now able to send their children to good and outstanding schools, including free schools that simply didn’t exist before.
“I think of over 200,000 young people who have taken part in National Citizen Service, the fastest growing youth programme of its kind in the world, something that, again, wasn’t there 6 years ago.
“I think of the couples who have been able to get married, who weren’t allowed to in the past.
“And I think of the people on the other side of the world who would not have clean drinking water, the chance to go to school, or even be alive, were it not for our decision to keep our aid promises to the poorest people and the poorest countries in our world.”
Cameron also paid homage to the NHS, describing it as a ‘national treasure’, despite allegations of the Conservative party’s ‘privatisation attempts’.
On welcoming in his replacement, the Witney MP said the county was in good hands.
“I am delighted that for the second time in British history the new Prime Minister will be a woman, and once again, a Conservative,” he said.
“I believe Theresa will provide strong and stable leadership in fulfilling the Conservative Manifesto on which we were elected, and I wish her well in negotiating the best possible terms for Britain’s exit from the European Union.”
