Tuesday, 16 Apr 2024

David Cameron's book – what are the biggest revelations, when is it out and what does it say about Boris Johnson?

DAVID Cameron's highly-anticipated memoir For The Record is due to hit shelves soon, with striking details about his professional and person life revealed.

But when is the former PM's book out and what exactly can we expect from it? Here's what we know…

What are the biggest revelations?

Mr Cameron's new book has made some surprising revelations about several political figures, as well as intimate details from his personal life.

Son's tragic death

The former PM revealed the emotional "torture" of watching his "darling" son die from a rare neurological disorder at just six-years-old.

He opened up about his firstborn son Ivan's devastating death – saying it felt "as if the world had stopped turning".

Born on April 8, 2002, Ivan had initially seemed a healthy baby boy – until he started to lose weight, appearing to have regular seizures at just two-weeks-old.

And although he was ultimately diagnosed with the extremely rare Ohtahara syndrome, the name did nothing to provide his family with any comfort – with no treatment or cure, or known cause.

In the candid piece, Cameron wrote: "A world in which things had always gone right for me suddenly gave me an immense shock and challenge."

While doctors desperately offered treatments, Cameron said his little boy could barely keep down the medicines during the dark times he could "hardly bear to remember".

'Off his head' on dope

In the book, he has also admitted to being “off his head” on dope at Eton – and later smoking it with his wife Samantha and friends.

In extracts from his book published in The Times, Mr Cameron revealed how he and two school friends used to row a boat to an island in the Thames, roll joints and “spend a summer’s afternoon getting gently off our heads”.

He famously escaped expulsion over the incident, which was revealed in a book in 2007 just 14 months after he was elected Tory leader.

Mr Cameron – then a 15-year-old boy – admitted to teachers that he had taken the drug after police said Etonians had been visiting nearby Slough to buy cannabis.

Under Eton rules he could have been expelled but instead he was fined, grounded by the school and stripped of privileges.

But seven other boys were asked to leave the school.

Being caught and summoned to see his housemaster was “without doubt the worst moment of my life so far”, Mr Cameron wrote.

Daughter's outburst

Cameron heard his daughter launch into a four-letter outburst as the stress of the Brexit referendum took its toll on everyone in his family.

The startled ex-PM heard the outburst from young Nancy as the family buckled under the strain of the doomed EU vote.

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha listened in on the screaming match at a school fair in the run-up to the referendum three years ago.

In his book For The Record, he said: “There had been a contretemps between her and a bigger girl at the school fair, who had asked if she was for ‘out’ or for ‘in’.

“Nancy replied she was for in. The girl said, ‘Well, f*** you’.

“Nancy replied ‘Well, f*** you too’. Sam and I had never heard her say the F-word. We thought it was a bit shocking, but rather extraordinary.”

The ex-Tory leader, who quit over the Brexit vote, revealed how Nancy and son Elwen noticed their dad was struggling to cope with stress during the four-month campaign.

Praising his children

Mr Cameron, 52, heaped praise on his “sweet and supportive” children Nancy, now 15, Elwen, 13, and Florence, nine, as he struggled to convince voters over his Brexit gamble.

In the book, out this week, he expressed his love for them — and said he was particularly proud of Nancy and Elwen.

They were old enough to understand what was going on and had become wrapped up in the fight to stay in the European Union.

He said: “Nancy and Elwen had been so engaged in the campaign, and so sweet and supportive to me.

“I knew they knew I was stressed, because they’d been hugging me more than usual.

“Nancy had been taking my ‘Conservative in’ campaign badges and giving them to her friends.”

Mr Cameron also reveals how son Elwen gave a brilliant account of himself in a school debate — on the morning his dad revealed he was leaving No 10.

He writes: “On the morning I gave my resignation speech outside No 10, Elwen was in a school project in which they would act out the UN having a debate on human rights.

“They had been rehearsing, with a German girl in his class playing Angela Merkel, an American boy playing Barack Obama and Elwen playing me.

“The teachers asked him that morning if he wanted to go ahead, or if it would be too upsetting, given what had just happened. ‘I want to do it for my dad’, he replied. His performance apparently had the watching parents in tears.”

When is it out?

Mr Cameron's debut memoir For The Record is out for grabs on September 19.

Publisher William Collins said he will give "for the first time, his perspective on the EU referendum and his views on the future of Britain's place in the world in the light of Brexit".

"In For the Record, he will explain how the governments he led transformed the UK economy while implementing a modern, compassionate agenda that included reforming education and welfare, legalising gay marriage, honouring the UK's commitment to overseas aid and spearheading environmental policies," William Collins said.

"He will shed light on the seminal world events of his premiership – the Arab Spring; the rise of ISIS; the invasion of Ukraine; the conflicts in Libya, Iraq and Syria – as well as events at home, from the Olympic Games in 2012 to the Scottish referendum."

The book will be published in hardback, ebook and audio.

What does it say about Boris Johnson?

Mr Cameron tore into Boris Johnson saying he “didn’t believe in” Brexit – and backed it to boost his career.

The ex-Tory leader says BoJo threw his weight behind the campaign even though he was “certain the Brexit side would lose”.

The former PM says Boris wanted to “become the darling of the party” using the referendum to ensure others, including Michael Gove, did not “win that crown”.

He says: “The conclusion I am left with is that he risked an outcome he didn’t believe in because it would help his political career.”

His concerns about sovereignty, Cameron claims, were “secondary to another concern for Boris: what was the best outcome for him?”

In his memoirs, Cameron said that when BoJo attacked him over failing to cut immigration he said it became “open warfare”.

He added: “The rules of engagement had been abandoned.”

Johnson backed Leave despite being offered the role of Defence Secretary.

In extracts of his long-awaited memoir serialised in the Sunday Times, Cameron also labelled Brexiteer Michael Gove, who was once a close friend, a "foam-flecked Faragist".

On Gove, the former PM said: "One quality shone through: disloyalty. Disloyalty to me and, later, disloyalty to Boris."

The former PM also accused Boris Johnson of behaving “appallingly” during the EU referendum campaign — but singled out Michael Gove for his most stinging criticism.

The ex-leader even revealed he called his one-time close friend “a w****r” when they were in the Cabinet.

He said the two Leavers, who campaigned against him in the 2016 vote, left “the truth at home” and blasted them for “trashing the government of which they were a part”.

And he lifted the lid on a major fall out when Mr Gove refused to budge as Education Secretary during the 2014 Cabinet reshuffle.

Mr Cameron revealed he texted Mr Gove to tell him: “You are either a team player or a w****r”.

He also blasted new PM Boris for botching his Brexit strategy in the past month.

What has Mr Cameron been up to?

The father-of-four has enjoyed trips to Glastonbury festival, chowed down on some fish and chips at Polzeath Beach in Cornwall and sported a Peaky Blinders flat cap at the races.

He has also been giving advice to wife Samantha's designer clothing business.

Aside from writing his memoirs, Cameron has also been involved in overseeing the expansion of the National Citizen Service (NCS), the skills programme for teenagers he set up while in power, as chairman of NCS Patrons.

The scheme is open to young people aged between 15 and 17 and involves outdoor activity trips, where young people learn life skills and plan and fundraise for social action projects.

Cameron will bring together politicians from all parties, as well as industry experts, to help it reach more teenagers.

As well as being on the board of several other organisations, the rest of his time is taken up predominantly with the UK-China Fund, which he has vice-chaired since December 2017.

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts