On the BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs this weekend, the Liberal Democrat leader confessed that he was an occasional smoker, and selected as his castaway luxury a “stash” of cigarettes. Asked today whether he would agree to give up smoking by the end of the Coalition’s first time in government in 2015, he said that on the contrary he expected to be on 20 a day by then. While David Cameron was known to have struggled with his smoking h ... Jump to full article >>

Less state spending? When my beloved tells me she intends to cut back on the shopping, my reaction is invariably one of pathetic, hog-whimpering relief. Same yesterday listening to George Osborne. Inside the Commons, the Chancellor was squeaky and judiciously glum. So statist have our politics become in recent years, MPs are terrified of standing up for the taxpayers. Outside the Palace of Westminster there was a sunnier mood. TV crews had set u ... Jump to full article >>

David Cameron received a boost last night after a poll revealed emphatic support for his Government’s programme of savage public spending cuts. The first study of voters’ attitudes to plans to slash the UK’s crippling £156 billion deficit shows overwhelming support for measures to rip up departmental budgets rather than increase tax revenues. Last week, Chancellor George Osborne said the public would be consulted on how to find savings ... Jump to full article >>

Out of control hand-outs, which this year will be paid to three-quarters of senior civil servants, are to be restricted to high performers. Under the terms of Whitehall contracts signed by Labour ministers at the height of the recession, bonus payments can not be cancelled by the incoming Government. In future, however, windfalls across the public sector will be restricted to employees who have performed “exceptionally well,” with only the t ... Jump to full article >>

One enchanted evening in the late March of 1975, David Cameron made his first speech before a public audience. And what a gathering it was. On a simple wooden chair in the front row of the main hall-cum-theatre of Heatherdown Preparatory School in Berkshire, sat Her Majesty the Queen, with the Duke of Edinburgh beside her. Other members of the House of Windsor were also present, along with several pages worth of Debrett’s Peerage. Outside, ... Jump to full article >>

A week ago, as Britain prepared to go to the polls, it was a scene that few voters, let alone David Cameron and Nick Clegg, could ever have imagined. But on Wednesday, in the sun-dappled Downing Street garden, the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties stood side by side to unveil formally the country’s first coalition government for 65 years. The two men declared that they were now “colleagues not rivals”, repeatedly p ... Jump to full article >>

David Cameron has become Prime Minister after agreeing a deal with the Liberal Democrats to lead Britain’s first coalition government since the Second World War. Mr Cameron, 43, becomes the youngest premier since Lord Liverpool almost 200 years ago, and the first Conservative in No 10 since John Major departed 13 years ago. He promised there would be “hard and difficult work” ahead and said his administration would focus on “rebuilding ... Jump to full article >>

Lib Dems and Tories to resume talks at the Cabinet Office at 10am Nick Clegg slips into Foreign Office for secret meeting with Brown Cameron warned by Tory Right-wing not to give too much ground Clegg given himself another 24 hours to try to hammer out a coalition Financial markets braced for meltdown this morning Gordon Brown mounted a secret last-ditch attempt to cling to power last night as the Tories and Lib Dems edged closer to a deal th ... Jump to full article >>

David Cameron called on Gordon Brown to quit as Prime Minister this morning as voters overwhelmingly rejected Labour but failed to hand the Tories an outright majority. The Tory leader said that the Government ‘had lost its mandate to govern.’ The BBC predicted that the Tories would be the biggest party in a hung parliament after they secured their biggest swing against Labour for 80 years. And with more than 500 results declared th ... Jump to full article >>

In his closing statement, the Prime Minister made a last-ditch plea to voters, acknowledging for the first time that Mr Cameron is on course to take the keys to Number 10. He said: “I know that if things stay as they are, perhaps in eight days’ time David Cameron, perhaps supported by Nick Clegg, would be in office. “But I have the duty of telling you this evening that while we have policies for the future, the Conservatives ... Jump to full article >>