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David Cameron: I would not serve third term as PM David Cameron rules out third term as prime minister
(about 4 hours later)
David Cameron unexpectedly ruled out serving a third term in office, causing dismay in Conservative circles as he highlighted three potential successors. David Cameron has ruled out serving a third term in Downing Street, leading to dismay among senior Tories as he laid the ground for a succession race by naming three senior Conservatives who would provide “a fresh pair of eyes”.
The prime minister said he felt fit enough to serve another full five years in Downing Street – if he were to remain in power after the forthcoming general election but added that after that it would be “time for new leadership”. Opponents accused Cameron of taking an election victory for granted and behaving in an “incredibly presumptuous manner” by naming Theresa May, Boris Johnson and George Osborne as likely successors in 2020.
In an interview with the BBC, conducted largely in the kitchen of the prime minister’s Cotswolds home, Cameron named home secretary Theresa May, chancellor George Osborne and London mayor Boris Johnson as potential Conservative leaders. The prime minister found himself under fire after he suggested in an unguarded interview with the BBC that it would be mad to hang onto power after 2020. Speaking to the BBC’s deputy political editor, James Landale, mostly in the kitchen of the prime minister’s Cotswolds home, Cameron said: “I’ve said I’ll stand for a full second term, but I think after that it will be time for new leadership. Terms are like shredded wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many.”
“I’ve said I’ll stand for a full second term, but I think after that it will be time for new leadership. Terms are like shredded wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many,” the prime minister said. Asked whether he would stand for a third time, Cameron added: “No. I think I’m standing for a full second time. I’m not saying all prime ministers necessarily definitely go mad or even go mad at the same rate. But I feel I’ve got more to bring to this job, the job is half done, the economy’s turned round, the deficit is half down. I want to finish the job.”
Related: Election 2015: David Cameron rules out third term - live The prime minister then took the rare step for a modern prime minister of naming his likely successors. “There definitely comes a time where a fresh pair of eyes and fresh leadership would be good. The Conservative party has got some great people coming up – the Theresa Mays and the George Osbornes and the Boris Johnsons. There is plenty of talent there. I am surrounded by very good people.”
Related: Future leadership of Tory party thrown open after Cameron's surprise remarks
The three senior politicians are already the bookmakers’ favourites to be their party’s next leader, perhaps as soon as this year if the Conservatives lose the election. However, their ambitions have never been so publicly acknowledged by Cameron before.The three senior politicians are already the bookmakers’ favourites to be their party’s next leader, perhaps as soon as this year if the Conservatives lose the election. However, their ambitions have never been so publicly acknowledged by Cameron before.
The prime minister made the declaration about his political future during a informal interview with the BBC, which saw him preparing food in the kitchen and featured a brief appearance from his wife Samantha. Amid astonishment in the tearoom at Westminster, where Tory MPs accused the prime minister of undermining his own authority by talking of his departure, No 10 was forced to launch a damage limitation exercise.
Cameron appears to have made a calculation that voters do not want a prime minister who goes on for too long in the vein of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. He has previously been thought to be planning to hand over to another Tory leader half way through a second term, if he were to get re-elected. In an unscheduled appearance on Newsnight, the Tory chief whip, Michael Gove, said the prime minister had given an honest answer to a straight question which amounted to the “bleedin’ obvious” that he hoped to serve a second term in No 10.
But his remarks were greeted with dismay by Conservative commentators. Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator magazine, said that Cameron had just “set fire to his authority” by “pre-announcing his resignation”. Gove said: “It was a statement of the bleeding obvious. I wasn’t surprised by the prime minister saying it. One of the differences between David Cameron and [his] predecessors – Margaret Thatchers, others whom you have had to prise out of Downing Street, their fingernails have been there in the door jamb – David Cameron is not interested in the office for what it can give him. He thinks at the end of two terms, ‘I will have done my job.’”
Douglas Alexander, Labour’s chair of general election strategy, seized on Cameron’s remarks as evidence of a complacent attitude towards the electorate. But one former minister said: “This was peculiar and unnecessary. It does not help the prime minister’s authority.”
“The Tories are taking the British public for granted,” Alexander said. “It is typically arrogant of David Cameron to presume a third Tory term in 2020 before the British public have been given the chance to have their say in this election. In the UK it is for the British people and not the prime minister to decide who stays in power.” One loyalist said: “This was an ‘Oh fuck’ moment. The best you can say is David is straight and honest.”
Downing Street sources immediately tried to row back on Cameron’s comments, saying he was only rejecting the idea of serving a full third term. In what appeared to be a damage limitation exercise, the source said: “What happens in five years’ time in 2020? Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.” Related: David Cameron confronts his own shelf-life – and its consequences
The source said that the prime minister is in a different position to Blair and Thatcher who declined to give similar commitments at the end of their first terms in office. This is because they chose to fight elections on four-year cycles. The prime minister, encouraged by his wife Samantha, has often been heard to joke in private that he would like to leave Downing Street before he goes mad, unlike some of his predecessors. Margaret Thatcher famously said after her third election win in 1987 that she would like to “go on and on”. Tony Blair, who was conscious of the dangers of staying in office too long, said towards the end of his second term in 2004 that he would serve a third term and stand down at that election. Blair’s aides say that his declaration, prompted by a minor heart procedure, sapped his authority and emboldened supporters of Gordon Brown who eventually unseated him in 2007.
Under the fixed term parliament act Cameron fights elections on five-year cycles. This means that Cameron is at the equivalent of Blair’s half way stage at the end of just one term. Blair won three elections, as did Thatcher. Douglas Alexander, Labour’s chair of general election strategy, said in response to Cameron’s interview: “The Tories are taking the British public for granted. It is typically arrogant of David Cameron to presume a third Tory term in 2020 before the British public have been given the chance to have their say in this election.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said it was “incredibly presumptuous of David Cameron to be worrying about a third term as prime minister weeks before the general election”. Related: David Cameron talks breasts, thighs – and third terms
“He should spend a bit more time considering how he can possibly justify to voters the Tories’ dangerous plans to cut public services than agonising over his own long-term legacy.” A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “It’s incredibly presumptuous of David Cameron to be worrying about a third term as prime minister weeks before the general election.”
The prime minister said political leaders should never regard themselves as “indispensable – however mad you go in this job”. Downing Street sources immediately tried to row back on Cameron’s comments, saying he was only rejecting the idea of serving a full third term. One source said: “What happens in five years’ time in 2020? Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“I’m standing for a full second time,” he said. “I’m not saying all prime ministers necessarily definitely go mad or even go mad at the same rate… But I feel I’ve got more to bring to this job, the job is half done, the economy’s turned round, the deficit is half down and I want to finish the job. Tory MPs suggested that other leadership hopefuls, such as Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, would have long faces. Boris Johnson joked that the next Tory leader has probably not even been born when he was greeted by television cameras as he returned home. “The next leader of the Tory party is probably a babe unborn. Kids grow up fast these days, folks.”
“I didn’t just come to do this to deal with the debts and the mess, I want to go on with the education reforms and the welfare reforms. In the BBC film, which featured the prime minister watching his son play football and preparing food in the kitchen of his Oxfordshire home, his wife Samantha said she thought her husband was “definitely, in my mind, the best man for the job”.
“But there definitely comes a time where a fresh pair of eyes and fresh leadership would be good, and the Conservative Party has got some great people coming up: the Theresa Mays, and the George Osbornes, and the Boris Johnsons. There’s plenty of talent there. I’m surrounded by very good people. The third term is not something I’m contemplating.”
But his intervention will hardly have delighted other cabinet colleagues such as Jeremy Hunt, Savid Javid, and Michael Gove who may have leadership aspirations of their own.
Cameron’s wife Samantha also appeared in the short film, saying she thought her husband was “definitely, in my mind, the best man for the job”.
“I hope that me and the family help him to keep things in perspective, keep him grounded and help him pace himself over the next eight weeks,” she said.“I hope that me and the family help him to keep things in perspective, keep him grounded and help him pace himself over the next eight weeks,” she said.
During the film, Cameron was seen cheering on son Elwen’s football team, shopping at a local butcher’s and preparing food in the kitchen of his Oxfordshire home.
His children were also filmed eating a meal at the kitchen table and Cameron spoke of how his daughter, Nancy, has threatened to go on hunger strike unless his friend Jeremy Clarkson is reinstated as presenter of Top Gear. The television star was suspended after allegedly hitting a BBC producer, sparking a petition for him to return.His children were also filmed eating a meal at the kitchen table and Cameron spoke of how his daughter, Nancy, has threatened to go on hunger strike unless his friend Jeremy Clarkson is reinstated as presenter of Top Gear. The television star was suspended after allegedly hitting a BBC producer, sparking a petition for him to return.
“I told her this is not necessarily a useful intervention. It is not exactly Gandhi,” Cameron said. Samantha added: “Nancy’s hunger strike this morning lasted approximately five minutes.” “I told her this is not necessarily a useful intervention. It is not exactly Gandhi,” Cameron said. Samantha added: “Nancy’s hunger strike this morning lasted approximately five minutes.” The prime minister then joked: “It’s between lunch and tea is the way it works.”
The prime minister then joked: “It’s between lunch and tea is the way it works.”