David Cameron reaches 10th anniversary as Conservative Party leader
David Cameron becomes the fourth Conservative Party leader in the last 100 years to mark 10 years at the helm, joining Stanley Baldwin, Sir Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher in the history books.
Snatching the leadership from favourite David Davis in 2005, aged just 39, he was seen as the Tories' youthful answer to Tony Blair, who could shake off the party's "nasty" image and recreate them as an optimistic and modern party in a country which was still enjoying an economic boom.
But the tone of his leadership was changed irrevocably by the massive financial crash of 2007/08, as he and close ally George Osborne offered an unprecedented programme of austerity to bring the ballooning deficit under control.
Here are some key moments of David Cameron's decade in charge:
2005
December 6: Mr Cameron is elected Conservative Party leader by a convincing 67% to 32% margin among activists over more-established rival David Davis.
His emergence as the surprise favourite - only four years after becoming an MP - was fuelled by a no-notes speech to the party conference promising to "inspire a new generation".
2006
April 21: On a visit to the Arctic to burnish his "green" credentials, Mr Cameron is pictured riding a husky-sled in what will become a widely-mocked photo opportunity. Critics soon seize on the revelation he is followed to work on his bicycle by an official car carrying his papers and shoes.
July 10: A call for hoodie-wearing teenagers to be shown "a lot more love" to avoid being drawn into offending is derided by Labour as "hug a hoodie" - an epithet that will stick for some years.
2007
February 11: Declines to deny reports - in a biography - that he was disciplined for smoking cannabis while a 15-year-old pupil at exclusive private school Eton.
July 19: Despite visiting the constituency personally five times and having "David Cameron's Conservatives" on the ballot paper, the Tories come third in the Ealing Southall by-election - leading to talk of a bid to oust him as leader.
2008
May 3: Boris Johnson's ousting of Ken Livingstone as mayor of London sets the seal on a day of spectacular success in local elections. Cameron says the party is "ready to step up for Britain".
May 22: Conservatives take Nantwich and Crewe in the party's first by-election gain from Labour in almost 30 years with a massive 17.6% swing. A jubilant Mr Cameron hails "the end of New Labour" and pledges a "coalition for change".
December 15: Bankers responsible for the crisis should face prosecution in a "day of reckoning", Mr Cameron pledges.
2009
February 25: Son Ivan, who suffered from Ohtahara Syndrome, a rare epilepsy condition accompanied by severe cerebral palsy, dies aged six.
May 12: Mr Cameron orders Tory MPs exposed by the expenses scandal to repay wrongly-claimed taxpayers' cash or face being barred from standing for election. He pays back a £680 claim for removing wisteria and other repairs at his constituency home.
2010
April 15: Britain's first televised leaders' election proves a bad night for the would-be Prime Minister as Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is declared the runaway "winner" of the three-way battle.
May 6: The Conservatives fall 20 seats short of an overall majority, sparking five days of frantic to-and-fro negotiations between the three main parties.
The Liberal Democrats accept Mr Cameron's "big, open and comprehensive" power-sharing offer, forming the UK's first post-war coalition. He becomes, at 43, the youngest prime minister since 1812.
November 10: Students storm Conservative HQ as a protest against raising tuition fees turns violent.
2011
January 21: Andy Coulson quits as Mr Cameron's communications director over phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World, where he was editor.
May 5: Lib Dem hopes of a change to the voting system are roundly dashed in a referendum. Mr Cameron is criticised by coalition partners for ferocity of anti-AV campaign.
August 11: After four days of looting and rioting brought chaos and destruction to English towns and cities, the PM vows to do "whatever it takes" to restore order and promises help to turn around "troubled families".
2012
June 14: Mr Cameron endures an uncomfortable grilling at the Leveson Inquiry - notably over the closeness of his links to the Murdoch media empire. Ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks had revealed he signed off text messages to her with "LOL".
2013
January 23: In a long-delayed speech on Britain's future in the European Union, Mr Cameron promises an in/out referendum on the UK's membership by the end of 2017.
August 29: MPs reject by a majority of 13 Mr Cameron's call for military action in Syria - the first such reverse on foreign policy for at least 150 years. He immediately rules out action and a proposed US-led intervention against the regime of Bashar Assad is abandoned soon after.
2014
September 19: The issue of Scottish independence is settled "for a generation perhaps for a lifetime", Mr Cameron declares after Scots vote No' in a referendum on whether to leave the UK. He promises to "honour in full" promises of more powers for Holyrood made during the campaign.
September 26: Parliament gives the green light for UK air strikes against IS targets in Iraq by a majority of 481 after Mr Cameron says Britain has a "duty" to join the military campaign.
2015
March 24: Mr Cameron announces that he will not serve a third term as prime minister if he wins the general election, tipping Home Secretary Theresa May, Chancellor George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson as potential successors.
May 7: In one of the biggest general election shocks for decades, Mr Cameron leads the Conservatives to an opinion-poll defying victory.
September 7: Britain acted in "self defence" by killing two British jihadists plotting attacks on the terror UK in a drone strike in Syria, Mr Cameron said, the first occasion in modern times that the UK has used military force in a country where it was not engaged in a war.
November 10: Mr Cameron formally sets out his EU reform demands in a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk - including measures to curb migration.
December 2: MPs vote by 397 to 223 - a majority of 174 - in favour of the Prime Minister's plan to extend air strikes against Islamic State from Iraq into Syria. Some 66 Labour MPs were persuaded to vote with the Government.