David Cameron rules out third term as prime minister

[T_i_B]

Source: UK Guardian

David Cameron has ruled out serving a third term in Downing Street, leading to dismay among senior Tories as he laid the ground for a succession race by naming three senior Conservatives who would provide “a fresh pair of eyes”.

Opponents accused Cameron of taking an election victory for granted and behaving in an “incredibly presumptuous manner” by naming Theresa May, Boris Johnson and George Osborne as likely successors in 2020.

The prime minister found himself under fire after he suggested in an unguarded interview with the BBC that it would be mad to hang onto power after 2020. Speaking to the BBC’s deputy political editor, James Landale, mostly in the kitchen of the prime minister’s Cotswolds home, Cameron said: “I’ve said I’ll stand for a full second term, but I think after that it will be time for new leadership. Terms are like shredded wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many.”

Asked whether he would stand for a third time, Cameron added: “No. I think I’m standing for a full second time. I’m not saying all prime ministers necessarily definitely go mad or even go mad at the same rate. But I feel I’ve got more to bring to this job, the job is half done, the economy’s turned round, the deficit is half down. I want to finish the job.”

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/23/david-cameron-i-would-not-serve-third-term-as-pm

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Cameron, of course has to win a second term as prime minister first.

And even his first term only came about as a result of a coalition deal with the Lib Dems.

[davidpdx]

1. Instead of standing for a second term

He should be thrown in the river

[Ken Burch]

4. That's a horrible thing to do to a river. n/t.

[MADem]

2. He figures by making that promise it will make it easier for him to win. He's already planning his

post-political move$, I'm guessing.

[rpannier]

3. Hopefully, he doesn't get a 2nd term nt

[PumpkinAle]

5. Nasty, arrogant, delusional, country-destroyer

yep, Cameron would do really well as a republican.

He has done his best to destroy the NHS, education, the police force and is still eyeing what else he can hand over to the private sector.

[Nye Bevan]

8. He's not all bad.

Conservatives in Britain are expanding the definition of conservatism to include equality for gays and lesbians, the Washington Post reports, as Prime Minister David Cameron pushes through a same-sex marriage law. “I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative,’’ Cameron said in a recent landmark speech on the issue. “I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.’’ Mindful of the growing social acceptance for gay people, Cameron has gradually evolved towards defining gay rights as human rights and has hosted a summit on homophobia in professional soccer “and officially apologized for Thatcher-era antigay policies, calling the party’s previous stance ‘a mistake.'” One political operative explained the shift this way: “The electorate was not seeing us as a viable alternative in a modern world. But David Cameron came along and changed all that. This is a different Conservative Party now, one that is fully in favor of equal rights. I think the Republicans could learn a lot from us in how to appeal to the center, without whose votes a party cannot hope to win.’’

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/04/02/456394/david-cameron-i-support-gay-marriage-because-i-am-a-conservative/

[starroute]

6. Was he implying that Maggie Thatcher went mad?

"Terms are like shredded wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many. ... I’m not saying all prime ministers necessarily definitely go mad or even go mad at the same rate.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts, 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. ...

Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge (referred to as the "poll tax&quot was widely unpopular and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership.

[T_i_B]

7. Yes, I think he was implying that

Although I wouldn't expect your average Tory to be giving the idea that Thatcher was in office too long very much thought.