For 70% of Cameron's 10yrs as leader he's been ahead of his Lab opponent, in @IpsosMORI net satisfaction terms pic.twitter.com/qY5wuvQ8CS

— TSE (@TSEofPB) December 6, 2015

Today is the tenth anniversary of David Cameron’s election as Conservative Leader, and what a ten years it has been. The above chart neatly encapsulates why David Cameron is seen as the Conservative Party’s strongest asset, for around 70% of his tenure, he has led his Labour opponent on this front. With Cameron not standing again, Labour might have a chance of winning the 2020 general election. We saw in May, under First Past the Post, a popular, competent leader can make all the difference.

In these ten years, we saw the first peacetime coalition in seventy years, Scotland nearly seceding from The Union, the rise of UKIP, the possibility of the UK’s exit from the EU. In that time, Cameron has faced a lot of leaders*, taking on, for Labour: Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, Ed Miliband, Harriet Harman and Jeremy Corbyn**.

For the Liberal Democrats: Charles Kennedy, Vince Cable, Sir Menzies Campbell, Nick Clegg and Tim Farron.

For UKIP: Roger Knapman, Nigel Farage, Lord Pearson, Jeffrey Titford, Nigel Farage and Suzanne Evans.

For the SNP: Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

I think one of Cameron’s ‘greatest’ achievements in his first ten years, was his failure to win a majority in 2010, which led to a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, which turned out be disastrous for the Liberal Democrats. In hindsight the Liberal Democrats might be more upset at Cameron’s failure to win a majority in 2010 than most Conservatives were in 2010.

TSE

*I’ve included acting leaders.

**Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, I still struggle to comprehend that, and I don’t think I ever will