First Cameron ministry

First Cameron ministry
94th ministry of the United Kingdom (since 1707)
2010–2015
Date formed	11 May 2010
Date dissolved	8 May 2015[1]
People and organisations
Head of government	David Cameron
Deputy head of government	Nick Clegg
Head of state	Queen Elizabeth II
Number of ministers	32
Member parties	Conservative Party Liberal Democrats
Status in legislature	Coalition
Opposition cabinet	Miliband Shadow Cabinet
Opposition party	Labour Party
Opposition leader	Harriet Harman (2010) Ed Miliband (2010-15)
History
Election(s)	2010 general election
Outgoing election	2015 general election
Legislature term(s)	5 years
Budget(s)	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Predecessor	Brown ministry
Successor	Second Cameron ministry

David Cameron formed the First Cameron ministry after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to begin a new government following the resignation of the previous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Gordon Brown, on 11 May 2010. It was a coalition government, composed of members of both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.

The government's Cabinet was made up of sixteen Conservatives and five Liberal Democrats with eight other Conservatives and one other Liberal Democrat attending cabinet but not members.^[2] The Cameron ministry was the first coalition government to have governed the United Kingdom since the Churchill war ministry of the Second World War. Following the 2015 British general election, the ministry was replaced by the single-party Second Cameron ministry.

History

The previous Parliament had been dissolved on 12 April 2010 in advance of the general election on 6 May. The election resulted in a hung parliament, no single party having an overall majority in the House of Commons, the Conservatives having the most seats but 20 short of a majority.

In the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement of 11 May 2010, the two parties formed a coalition government.^[3][4] The new Parliament met on 18 May for the swearing-in of Peers in the House of Lords and newly elected and returning Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, and the election for the Speakership of the House of Commons. The Queen's Speech on 25 May set out the government's legislative agenda.

The Liberal Democrats had five Cabinet members including Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister though after the Cabinet and ministerial reshuffle, David Laws, who was a Minister of State, was allowed to attend the Cabinet but was not a full member. If a Liberal Democrat minister resigned or was removed from office, another member of the same party would have had to be appointed to the Cabinet.^[5]

Each cabinet committee had a chair from one party and a deputy chair from the other; there was also a cabinet committee specifically overseeing the operation of the coalition. Both parties' ministers shared collective responsibility for the government's positions, although the coalition agreement detailed several issues on which the parties agreed to differ; the Liberal Democrats abstained from voting in such cases. Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister, took Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ) when Cameron was unavailable.^[5]

While the government's front benchers sat together in the House of Commons and the two parties acted as a bloc during PMQ,^[6] the Liberal Democrat and Conservative backbenchers sat apart and each had their own whips,^[6] and the two parties competed in by-elections. On 4 September 2012, David Cameron reshuffled his cabinet for the first time.^[7] He reshuffled his cabinet for the second time on 14 July 2014.^[8]

Cabinets

May 2010 – September 2012

Changes

• David Laws resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 29 May 2010 because of an expenses irregularity dating from the previous Parliament. He was replaced by Danny Alexander, who was in turn replaced as Secretary of State for Scotland by Michael Moore^[10]
• On 14 October 2011 Liam Fox resigned as Secretary of State for Defence following the procurement of high-level overseas meetings attendance for his friend and advisor, Adam Werrity, working for a private contractor, and stated that he had "mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my government activities to become blurred"^[11] His successor was Philip Hammond who was replaced as Transport Secretary by Justine Greening, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who was in turn replaced by Chloe Smith, an assistant government whip: she was replaced in turn by Greg Hands^[11][12]
• On 3 February 2012 Chris Huhne resigned as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change following the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute him and his former wife. His successor was Edward Davey, who was replaced as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills by Norman Lamb, replaced in his previous dual roles by Jenny Willott as an Assistant Whip and Jo Swinson as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister^[13]

September 2012 – July 2014

Changes

• On 19 October 2012, Andrew Mitchell resigned as Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons following controversy surrounding an argument with police officers in Downing Street. He was replaced by Sir George Young.^[16]
• On 7 January 2013, Lord Strathclyde resigned as Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was replaced by Lord Hill of Oareford.^[17]
• On 7 October 2013, Michael Moore was replaced as Secretary of State for Scotland by Alistair Carmichael, during a reshuffle which focused on junior ministerial ranks.
• On 9 April 2014, Maria Miller resigned as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities. She was replaced as Culture Secretary and Minister for Equalities by Sajid Javid, and by Nicky Morgan as Minister for Women. Morgan, who succeeded Javid as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, will not be a full cabinet member but will attend meetings in her role as Minister for Women.^[18]

July 2014 – May 2015

Changes

• On 5 August 2014, Baroness Warsi resigned as Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and as Minister for Faith and Community, in protest at the Government's response to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.^[21] She was replaced at the Foreign Office by Baroness Anelay of St. Johns, with Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles taking on Warsi's former Faith and Community brief.^[22]

List of Ministers

Prime Minister and Cabinet

Departments of State

Law officers

Parliament

See also

• Premiership of David Cameron
• Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband
• List of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 2000–present

References

Further reading

• Hazell, Robert; Yong, Ben (2012). The Politics of Coalition: How the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government Works. Hart Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84946-310-2. 

External links

• Cameron's government: A guide to who's who, BBC News, 14 May 2010
• Election 2010: the new cabinet guardian.co.uk, 12 May 2010, interactive guide

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David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010–present) Leader of the Conservative Party (2005–present) Leader of the Opposition (2005–2010) MP for Witney (2001–present) Born 9 October 1966 Premiership First Cameron ministry Second Cameron ministry 2010 coalition negotiations Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition agreement Big Society First Speech as Prime Minister Muscular liberalism Project Merlin Cash for Access scandal Politics Cameronism Political positions Electoral history Conservative Party Witney Shadow Cabinet The A-List Elections 2005 (party leadership) 2006 (local) 2007 (local) 2008 (local) 2009 (local) 2009 (European) 2010 (local) 2010 (general) 2011 (local) 2012 (local) 2013 (local) 2014 (local) 2014 (European) 2015 (general) 2015 (local) 2016 (local) Family Samantha Cameron (wife) Alexander Cameron (brother) Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet (grandfather) Sir William Mount, 1st Baronet (great grandfather) 2nd Great Grandparents Sir Ewen Cameron Sir William George Mount Sir Alfred Cooper Evan Henry Llewellyn Malcolm Low 3rd Great Grandparents William Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh James Duff, 5th Earl Fife Agnes Duff, Countess Fife Sir William Mount 4th Great Grandparents William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll Elizabeth Hay, Countess of Erroll Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie William Feilding, Viscount Feilding Sir Alexander Duff 5th Great Grandparents King William IV Dorothea Jordan William Hay, 17th Earl of Erroll Basil Feilding, 6th Earl of Denbigh Alexander Duff, 3rd Earl Fife Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Carnarvon Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie In the media Notting Hill set (2004) Dave the Chameleon (2006) Make Me a Tory (2007) When Boris Met Dave (2009) F·R·I·E·N·D·S (2010) The New Coalition Academy (2010) Cameron and Clegg Face the Audience (2010) Chipping Norton set (2010) Coalition (2015) Cameron's Coup (2015) Call Me Dave (2015) Piggate (2015) Conservatism portal Book:David Cameron Category:David Cameron

Nick Clegg Government Premiership of David Cameron First Cameron ministry 2010 coalition negotiations Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement Coalition government Frontbench Team Politics Liberal Democrats East Midlands Sheffield Hallam Opposition Frontbench Team Elections 2007 (party leadership) 2008 (local) 2009 (local) 2009 (European) 2010 (local) 2010 (general) 2011 (local) 2012 (local) 2013 (local) 2014 (local) 2014 (European) 2015 (general) 2015 (local) Family Miriam González Durántez (wife) Antonio, Alberto and Miguel (sons) In the media F·R·I·E·N·D·S (2010) The New Coalition Academy (2010) Cameron and Clegg Face the Audience (2010) The European Union: In or Out (2014) Coalition (2015) Wikimedia Nick Clegg at Wikinews Nick Clegg Official websites: Leader of the Liberal Democrats MP for Sheffield Hallam