Fact checking David Cameron

13 November 2023

While the Cabinet reshuffle is ongoing, there’s no doubting the big political story of the day—the return to government of former Prime Minister David Cameron, as the new foreign secretary (and the newest member of the House of Lords).

Full Fact was a different organisation back in 2016 when Mr Cameron was last in Downing Street, and our website is a different beast too, so unfortunately there’s no easy way to review all the times we’ve fact checked the former PM. (Though we do have a handy tool to check if we’ve fact checked any currently sitting MP.)

But a quick review of our archive shows we fact checked claims by Mr Cameron dozens of times between 2010 and 2016, on everything from the budget deficit and police numbers to school spending and female employment figures. And just days before the 2016 EU referendum, we live fact checked Mr Cameron’s BBC Question Time special. 

In March 2016, after we fact checked a claim Mr Cameron made at Prime Minister’s Questions about school capacity, he subsequently corrected the Parliamentary record.

Full Fact continues to monitor Prime Minister’s Questions, which returns this week, and to seek corrections if the PM or any other MP makes a false claim. 

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