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Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones
Cameron on Conversations with Dylan Jones Cameron, David and Jones, Dylan
330 pages, Hardcover
First published August 18, 2008
About the author
David Cameron
9 books28 followersDavid Cameron is a British politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016.
(source: Amazon)
(source: Amazon)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 19, 2021
David Cameron, let us remember, was the one who brought back the Tories from the coma they had fallen into following the downfall of John Major, and where New Labour had firmly kept them for more than a decade. It is, in any case, under his leadership that the 'nasty party', those reforms had deeply traumatised a whole kingdom during the 1980s, became electable again. Give him credit where credit is due...
Intrigued, the journalist Dylan Jones interviewed him for about a year, before he was elected PM. Here is then the product of such meetings, reading like a long conversation where answers by the politician are interspersed by Jones' comments about news topics of the time.
He talks about his privileged education, his political engagement, his journey, but, also, his convictions, he who led the Tories more towards the Centre and whose goal was to bring about a cultural revolution as necessary (or so he claims) to society as the Thatcherian revolution was to British economy. Of course, he uses this platform as a drumbeat to nail his key concepts ('broken society', 'big society'...) while outlining his program (from public services to immigration)! But there's also space for his private life (the pages dealing with the death of his son, obviously, not leaving indifferent).
Cynics could have accused him to be here on campaign, and of course they would have been right. Personally, I tackled this as it purported to be: a chilled way to access the man, discover who, then, became PM. It was a nice read, accessible, allowing a close up 'conversation' with someone who changed the Tory party... That's simple enough!
Intrigued, the journalist Dylan Jones interviewed him for about a year, before he was elected PM. Here is then the product of such meetings, reading like a long conversation where answers by the politician are interspersed by Jones' comments about news topics of the time.
He talks about his privileged education, his political engagement, his journey, but, also, his convictions, he who led the Tories more towards the Centre and whose goal was to bring about a cultural revolution as necessary (or so he claims) to society as the Thatcherian revolution was to British economy. Of course, he uses this platform as a drumbeat to nail his key concepts ('broken society', 'big society'...) while outlining his program (from public services to immigration)! But there's also space for his private life (the pages dealing with the death of his son, obviously, not leaving indifferent).
Cynics could have accused him to be here on campaign, and of course they would have been right. Personally, I tackled this as it purported to be: a chilled way to access the man, discover who, then, became PM. It was a nice read, accessible, allowing a close up 'conversation' with someone who changed the Tory party... That's simple enough!
September 12, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and the format it followed, with a brief introduction at the start of every chapter setting out the context.
The conversations with Cameron seemed frank and gave - I think - a genuine overview of his worldview and beliefs. It made for some interesting reading (in 2018) particularly with regards to the EU and Nick Clegg!!
What I found most interesting was the apparent transformation that took place from the beginning (where Cameron looked like a schoolboy compared to Brown) to the PM in waiting. You could feel the change in Cameron as you read and I think the contextual element at the start of each chapter, alongside the conversations, displayed this.
All in all an enjoyable and easy read - would recommend to anyone with an interest in politics!
The conversations with Cameron seemed frank and gave - I think - a genuine overview of his worldview and beliefs. It made for some interesting reading (in 2018) particularly with regards to the EU and Nick Clegg!!
What I found most interesting was the apparent transformation that took place from the beginning (where Cameron looked like a schoolboy compared to Brown) to the PM in waiting. You could feel the change in Cameron as you read and I think the contextual element at the start of each chapter, alongside the conversations, displayed this.
All in all an enjoyable and easy read - would recommend to anyone with an interest in politics!
January 2, 2023
This was a good book,
written over multiple instances.
Question reply style, so perhaps not what you might be expecting.
But it is good to read this if you want to get to know the David Cameron who 'was to be' and 'became' leader of the Conservative party. Especially now, over 10 years later, we have a distinct ability to compare Cameron with Cameron, and hold his ambitions to the flame of time.
I am pleased to have seen that for the most part, Cameron has stuck to his principles set out years before he became PM.
written over multiple instances.
Question reply style, so perhaps not what you might be expecting.
But it is good to read this if you want to get to know the David Cameron who 'was to be' and 'became' leader of the Conservative party. Especially now, over 10 years later, we have a distinct ability to compare Cameron with Cameron, and hold his ambitions to the flame of time.
I am pleased to have seen that for the most part, Cameron has stuck to his principles set out years before he became PM.
August 2, 2011
As someone relatively new to British politics it was interesting to look into the background of the upcoming 2010 election season. Not an especially well written book and the question/answer format was a little annoying. The greatest asset of this book is Cameron himself as the reader can actually see him honing his policy positions over the course of the year the book was written in. Wonder whether or not he will pull it off in March
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews