This is the moment Cameron’s slip of the tongue cost him the referendum – and his job
The end of the road for our hapless PM can be traced back to one slip of the tongue when chatting to a BBC journalist
THIS is the moment David Cameron made a slip of the tongue that cost him the Referendum and his job.
In an unguarded moment, he told a TV journalist he would not serve a third term as PM.
His off-the-cuff remark, in the kitchen of his Cotswolds home, unleashed a chain of events which led to him falling on his sword on Friday.
It kick-started a 14-month Tory leadership race which turned the Referendum campaign into a beauty contest to choose his successor.
Party stalwarts believe Boris Johnson would never have entered the fray as Brexit cheerleader had he not sensed the crown was up for grabs.
But by naming the day of his own departure, the PM effectively signed his own political death warrant.
Mr Cameron’s kitchen cock-up came just six weeks before the last General Election when he invited the BBC into his constituency home.
As the cameras rolled, he told stunned political hack James Landale he would serve the full five years if re-elected and then leave Number 10.
The PM said: “Terms are like Shredded Wheat. Two are wonderful but three might just be too many.”
He even tipped three MPs as his three potential successors — then London Mayor Boris, Home Secretary Theresa May and Chancellor George Osborne.
Downing Street aides winced when they heard the words gush from Mr Cameron’s mouth as he had broken one of the golden rules of politics.
Mr Cameron said: “There definitely comes a time where a fresh pair of eyes and fresh leadership would be good and the Conservative Party has got some great people coming up.
“You know, there’s plenty of talent there. I’m surrounded by very good people. I’ve said I’ll stand for a full second term, but I think after that it will be time for new leadership.”
It led to a host of senior MPs positioning for a future leadership bid and months of speculation over his successor.
A Ukip spokesman remarked prophetically: “Mr Cameron’s announcement will create the long-awaited civil war in the Conservative Party over Europe.”
Today, 16 months on, that response has become all too clear.
His rash remark is seen by many as the main reason Mr Johnson, who was prepared to bide his time for a leadership bid, seized the main chance.
After a few days of pondering, he decided to risk his arm by becoming Brexit cheerleader and it paid off. His grand entrance on the Referendum scene electrified the campaign and was instrumental in securing victory for Leave and hastening the PM’s downfall.
Now the party has been plunged into deeper in-fighting as recriminations over the result look to drag on over the summer.
Tory ex-minister David Davis said last night: “It’s always unwise for a leader to set the date of his departure because in so doing he also sets the date of his own political funeral.
“It may only be a slip of the tongue, but it certainly had an impact on the behaviour of all his putative rivals.
“Because he had already said he was going in this Parliament, it meant that many people saw the campaign to leave the EU, right or wrong, as a campaign to replace the Prime Minister.”
Pals of Mr Cameron dismissed his gaffe as a “statement of the bleeding obvious”.
Privately, they knew the PM, renowned for his chillaxed attitude, had been too laid back with a reporter in his home.
His interviewer at the time could not believe his luck and declared: “It is quite a gamble. There is a risk that some voters will think Mr Cameron is being arrogant for presuming the result of an election.”
But events have shown that the real gamble was with the future of Britain’s place in Europe — and ended up shortening his career by four years.
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “He has only himself to blame for the events of the past few days. It turns out he is leaving much sooner than he revealed in his kitchen interview but only because he doesn’t want to hang around long enough to discover that all the scares he told us about Brexit don’t happen.”
Mr Cameron’s resignation was the most talked about event on social media during the Referendum campaign, according to Twitter analysis.
More than 13,300 tweets were sent every minute as the PM quit on the steps of No10.
Apart from the two days surrounding the vote, the most tweeted-about event during the campaign was the Great Debate at Wembley last Tuesday.
The website also shows Mr Cameron was by far the most tweeted-about politician of the campaign, followed by Nigel Farage.
A study found that four in ten tweets mentioned Mr Cameron in the past month, compared with one in six for Ukip leader Farage, while Brexit chief Mr Johnson cornered one in ten.
A senior figure said: “David is the architect of his own demise. He’s been a lucky Prime Minster in many ways but a few error of judgments finished him off.”
Mr Cameron failed to defeat Gordon Brown but wormed his way into Downing Street by forming a coalition with the Lib Dems.
Five years later, he found himself pitched against a hopeless Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who nobody could visualise as a Prime Minster.
But despite this he still feared defeat and offered the nation an in-out Referendum in order to outflank Ukip, who were in danger of costing the Tories seats.
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His next big mistake was to call the vote too soon. His pollsters had warned it was close.
And when he failed to secure a decent renegotiation, they urged him to wait until 2017.
Mr Cameron was convinced he could swing it, however, and underestimated the level of support among MPs and voters for Brexit.
When leader-in-waiting Mr Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove joined Leave, his fate was sealed. And the cost of a cosy chat in the kitchen became all too clear.
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