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Anushka Asthana talks to those who understand David Cameron to try and figure out what makes Britain's prime minister tick.

The 'rhetorical populism' of the former prime minister's big society agenda may have waxed and waned, says Agnès Alexandre‐Collier. But Cameron was an innovator of party management and governing practices whose focus on connecting with 'the people' transformed his party – but also supplied the means of his own downfall.

A year ago the era of the Laborist's ruling has ended in Britain. As a result of the one of the most intensive campaign over the past decade in Downing Street residence was the leader of the Conservative party. David Cameron's Britain is seen the author as the antipode to Brown's one. According to experts, the two politicians are opposite directions of British political culture: an epicurean and puritanical. The author analyses the determinants of the coming to power of the Conservatives, the personal qualities of the new leader, the main directions of his domestic and foreign policies, including the prospects of relations with Russia.

A year ago, this journal published an article asking what Cameronism really stood for. Twelve months on, and we are much closer to identifying a clear agenda, says Richard Reeves.

Almost two years after moving into 10 Downing Street, David Cameron is still struggling to impose his style and define a strategy. His Big Society concept, which devolves State powers to the local level, has fizzled out. His emblematic reforms-overhauling welfare, hiking tuition and reorganizing the National Health Service-have had lackluster results. The environment has been pushed to the back burner. And his "soft" approach to juvenile delinquents went up in the flames of the 2011 riots, in which he appeared overwhelmed and slow to act. The Prime Minister's unease at dealing with difficulties is aggravated by the lack of authoritative advisors in his entourage, with the exception of the omnipresent Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. The only consolation for the ruling Tories is the weakness of the Labour Party, which is not currently up to taking over the reins. Adapted from the source document.

Alan Finlayson examines the emerging phenomenon of 'Cameronism' and argues that it could represent a political and intellectual project capable of trumping 'Blairism'.

Under David Cameron the Conservative party recovered sufficiently to deliver a Conservative Prime Minister. Cameron achieved what three leaders before him did not: a consistent poll lead over Labour and a broadening of the Conservative message. This chapter also highlights two major limitations to the Conservative 'recovery'; (i) the size of the Conservative base has not enlarged: roughly the same proportion of people identify with the Conservatives as did so in 1997, and voters' feelings towards the Conservative party saw just a small improvement; and (ii) although many evaluations of Conservative competence were less negative by 2010, the ratings were not yet clearly positive. The Conservative lead entering the election was narrow on many key criteria, and the campaign failed to change this position. Furthermore, this article suggests that Conservative ratings became positive in 2008, as the financial crisis occurred, and narrowed as Britain emerged from recession. Although much can be attributed to the selection of a new leader, the Conservative 'recovery' was due to the broader political context, and it was also a partial recovery, at best. © The Author 2010.