Out from the crowd ...and proud!

David Cameron - first year analysis

I have been known many times to say that this is the kind of analysis that I like to spend my time doing. No epsilons, no sequences tending to infinity, no natural numbers, and - best of all - no really annoying maths symbols that nobody can understand. Sorry for the maths joke but I'm doing a module called analysis at the moment that is hated by the vast majority of maths students.

I'd far rather think of analysis as something that sums up my opinions on a particular subject. That today being David Cameron's first year as Tory leader.

I remember last year not being too bothered who was leader, as long as there was someone who I could vote for at the next election. In fact, at the time, I didn't even realise that I would be entitled to vote in 2009 because I knew I would be at uni.

I didn't have much of an opinion when I heard Cameron was elected, though I was pleased the Tories finally had a leader. I was more concerned about policies and actually thought 2013 was too far into the future for me to be worrying about in 2005.

Not much changed concerning my opinion in the beginning of 2006. I had what I then considered to be far more important issues on my mind. In all honesty, I didn't really care about politics. I was interested in what was happening but didn't need loads of opinions on who I thought should run the country. I still thought I wouldn't be able to vote until after I graduated in 2010.

I wasn't particularly bothered about the environment in April/May 2006 when Cameron launched his "Vote blue, Go green" campaign shortly before the local elections. It was at about this time that I decided that I was a "true blue" and that I didn't like what I saw as wishy-washy liberalism from the Tories. This is not what I remember voting for 12 months earlier. I was becoming concerned that I wouldn't have anyone to vote for. I was wanting this to change by 2013.

Over summer I took an interest in politics again. I was still a little concerned with the wishy-washyness. I still considered myself a "true blue". I was by then getting rather frustrated at the lack of policies.

Then, all of a sudden, sometime in September, something happened. I had been sceptical of Cameron's leadership for 9 months but I started to support him almost overnight. I became passionate about the environment. I wanted to see economic stability before tax cuts. I was now well and truly a Cameronite. I still believe that he wasn't right to support top-up fees (£3,000 is far too much debt to get into when you're 18 in my opinion) but I agree with him on a lot of things. I now had someone to vote for. This was really good as it was around the same time that I found out I would not lose my right to vote if I went to uni.

More passionate than ever and more in favour of Cameron's leadership than ever, I decided at the societies fair at uni in the beginning of October to join UWCA. The time was right for me. I knew where I stood politically and wanted to get a bit more involved.

Now, in December, I am glad that Cameron is trying to bring the party into the 21st century. Thatcher may be an inspiration to me but I can say with complete honesty now that Thatcher was the right leader in 1979 and Cameron will be the right leader in 2009.

posted by Average guy on the street @ 3:12 pm