David Cameron, leader of Britain's Conservative Party has taken over as the country's new prime minister. He's promoted the image of a new kind of conservatism and has already made some major compromises by forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
The coalition is the first such government in Britain since World War II. At his first press conference as British leader, Mr. Cameron outlined what his government plans to do.
"It will be an administration united behind three key principles: freedom, fairness and responsibility. And it will be an administration united behind one key purpose, and that is to give our country the strong and stable and determined leadership that we need for the long term," he said.
Mr. Cameron campaigned on a platform of change, and since becoming party leader in 2005, he has worked to make the Conservative party more populist, and move it further from the staid image it had under its most famous leader - Margaret Thatcher.
Tony Travers of the London school of Economics says Mr. Cameron is well positioned to continue rebranding his party. "I think he will use the coalition to further to detoxify the Conservatives image which it still has with some people and I think he will find coalition government quite easily. He's a modern young man, he's the youngest British prime minister since 1812," he said.
Philip Blond, the head of the policy research organization Respublica, has worked with Mr. Cameron and praises his leadership qualities. "He's somebody who sought to reach over the divide between left and right, speak to all of the people, along the basis of the common good, so I think that is the sort of Conservatism David is attempting to articulate," he said.
Blond says Mr. Cameron's governance will have a look all its own. "It's going to look like an attempt to do something different. It's going to look like breaking the state up so that it could be run by citizens more. Turning the state inside out so it's more responsive to local needs," he said.
That means giving people more control, says Blond. "I think the new politics are about creating the conditions for individuals and groups to prosper," he said.
Some analysts have equated Mr. Cameron's youth with inexperience. He faces formidable challenges, such as Britain's $241 billion deficit and some major policy differences with his coalition partners. Still says Blond, the fact he put a coalition together at all is proof Mr. Cameron is a good leader. "I think he's passed his first test with flying colors. Who else would have behaved so adroitly, so reflectively, and so magnanimously?," he said.
In an effort to create stability, Md. Cameron says he does not plan to call an election for five years.
