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Cameron on the warpath
He has a disabled son and is the first party leader to view disability as a policy priority - just don't mention the 's' word. Elizabeth Choppin talks exclusively to David Cameron
December 2006
Watch out. David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative party, is on the warpath.
At 40, this Old Etonian has ascended the Tory ranks at an astonishing pace rising from MP, to shadow deputy leader of the Commons, to shadow education secretary, to party leader, all in less than five years.
And meeting him in the flesh you can see why. He's approachable. He's intelligent. He doesn't travel with a huge entourage. He's Dave. But as you would expect, he does mean business.
DN learned during a 20 minute interview on a flight to Edinburgh he might even lose his temper if crossed on his views about disability.
In the past, Mr Cameron has been accused of having wishy-washy policies; but as the parent of a small child with epilepsy and cerebral palsy, disability is not one of them.
He has been vocal about disability issues since his days as a backbench MP and has only picked up momentum as he has risen through the party. Armed with first-hand experience, Mr Cameron has come out swinging on the need for a simplified benefits system, which he says currently requires a "PhD in paperwork"; more respite care for families of disabled children; and, controversially, the role of special schools.
While his passion for the issues has sent positive ripples through the disability world, many disabled people are not yet sure what the future would hold under a prime minister Cameron. Mentioning his new "compassionate Conservatism" has been known to elicit cackles and guffaws from disability campaigners who consider it a contradiction in terms.
But David Cameron has stepped up as a party leader who says he would make disability a top priority and for that reason, disabled people should know what he stands for.
To start, he would like to see a stop to the "endless assessments" that disabled children and their families go through in order to secure services. He says his own experiences with his son, Ivan, have taught him that it is not easy to navigate the system.