City hosts fireside chat and student Q&A with David Cameron

Students from City, University of London’s Department of Journalism were joined by David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a fireside chat and question and answer session.

Mr Cameron, who served as Prime Minister between 2010 and 2016, spoke with Barney Jones, Visiting Professor in Journalism, about his decision to call a referendum on the UK’s European Union membership in 2016 and his battle to argue the case to remain with fellow Government ministers and the nation.

He then answered a range of impressive questions from students across different journalism courses and study levels, encompassing coalition austerity measures, Europe, green energy, international relations and politicians’ relationships with the media.

What an interesting day to discuss the relationship between the media and politicians. Pleasure to visit @cityjournalism and be grilled by future political journalists. Thank you for having me and best of luck with your studies and careers!

Barney Jones said:

“We are lucky enough to have welcomed many senior politicians to City journalism events, but this is the first former Prime Minister – not to mention our longest-serving in Number 10 for quite some time.

Mr Cameron did not shy away from any of the tough questions put to him by our students – including scrutiny of his record in office and his leadership of the unsuccessful campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union.

“Students have commented on his smooth approach to tackling their questions and appreciated his candour in doing so.”

Professor Mel Bunce, Head of the Department of Journalism at City, said:

We were extremely happy to welcome Mr Cameron to City to speak with our students on a range of issues from Brexit and austerity politics, through to climate change, Putin, and what it’s like being in the media spotlight.

Mr Cameron is the latest in a series of high-profile political leaders who have kindly given their time for free to talk to City Journalism students. This includes, in recent years: Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Nick Clegg, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Lord Neil Kinnock, Lord Michael Howard, and Ed Miliband MP.

Professor Bunce said: "Many of these speakers come to talk to students on our very popular module ‘Political Headlines’, which is run by Barney Jones, who is a former editor of The Andrew Marr Show.

"Students also routinely hear from top journalists. Last week, for example, we hosted a ‘City Question Time’ event, with Pippa Crerar (political editor of The Guardian), Katy Balls (Political editor of The Spectator) and Faisal Islam (Economics editor of the BBC) – all of them City alumni.

Late last year, our James Cameron Memorial Lecture was delivered by Clive Myrie, and we also recently hosted Tina Brown.”

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