David Cameron takes over from Michael Howard, hoping to replicate the success of a young Tony Blair.

(Angus Reid Global Scan) Mario Canseco - On Dec. 6, Britain's Conservative party announced that education spokesman David Cameron would be their new leader. The 39-year-old Cameron becomes the fourth person to command the country's foremost opposition organization in the past eight years.

From 1979 to 1997, the Conservative party administered the British government under prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In last May's election to the House of Commons, the Tories won 31 more seats than in the 2001 ballot. Still, it was not enough to significantly affect the dominance of the governing Labour party.

Some observers have quickly pointed out similarities between Cameron and current Labour leader and primer minister Tony Blair. In 1994, a 39-year-old Blair took over as Britain's opposition leader. He had three years to plan and implement a strategy for victory in a general election.

When Blair led Labour back into government in the 1997 election, he did so by effectively positioning his party as a more centrist political organization. The economic problems of the early 1990s—which contributed to the defeat of several conservative administrations around the world—also worked in Blair's favour. In the end, Labour elected 418 parliamentarians, garnering 43.2 per cent of the popular vote. Blair would secure a new term in 2001, this time with Tory William Hague as his main opponent.

Late last month, the current prime minister flatly refuted Cameron's assertion of being his heir, saying, "He is certainly not of my political persuasion."

Cameron can truly claim a mandate from the Tory faithful, as 68 per cent of Britain's 300,000 party members picked him instead of home affairs spokesman David Davis. Now Cameron finds himself in virtually the same position as Blair did eight years ago. The main difference is that he will not be fighting an unpopular incumbent government, but facing off against a new Labour leader.

In October 2004, Blair vowed to retire at the end of his third term in office. While the next election to the House of Commons must be held on or before Jun. 3, 2010, sitting prime ministers can dissolve Parliament and call an early ballot at their discretion.

The ascension of chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown as the new leader of the Labour party is merely a matter of timing. In September, the party held its annual conference, and Brown received ringing endorsements from most party members, including home secretary Charles Clarke.

A November poll by YouGov published in the Daily Telegraph explored the possibility of a head-to-head contest between Brown and Cameron. 46 per cent of respondents expressed preference for a Labour administration headed by Brown, while 37 per cent would rather have a Conservative government with Cameron as prime minister.

For now, Cameron has been careful not to appear overly antagonistic. In an interview published on Dec. 3 in The Guardian, Cameron said he would not come out against all of Labour's policies, declaring, "There are clear areas where the government is suggesting something that the Conservatives have long been calling for, where it would be totally ludicrous for us to oppose it."

Still, the new opposition leader came out swinging yesterday in his first House of Commons debate, deeming Blair's approach to education reform as "stuck in the past" and claiming the current prime minister "was the future once."

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