What will David Cameron be remembered for?

Ten Downing Street has been an odd place these past few days. The prime ministerial portraits that line the main staircase have been taken down and the furniture covered in dust sheets, as the authorities take advantage of David Cameron’s absence to spring clean. But the process has reminded those who work there of the transience of power, of how quickly they could be removed and the question of what legacy they might leave behind. What will future occupants say when they see the portrait of Cameron on the wall?

Toward the end of his time in No. 10, Steve Hilton would sit in policy meetings and ask, ‘But is it transformative?’ These words, delivered with a flick of the hand to illustrate a thought coming out of his head, attracted much mockery from jaded civil servants. But what Hilton understood was that prime ministers have a limited supply of time and political capital. To leave a lasting impression, they have to concentrate not on little changes but big ones.

Michael Gove, a close friend of both Hilton and Cameron, used to goad Gordon Brown by emphasising the distinction between the two types of PMs: ‘transformative’ ones, who marked the beginning of an era, and ‘fag-end’ ones. Hilton’s radical impatience has now taken him to California. On the way out, he griped to friends that he wasn’t sure whether Cameron was prepared to do what it takes to really change things.

Cameron has been prepared to jettison (or soften) much of the policy he espoused in the 2005 Tory leadership contest. Then, he chided those who focused on gross domestic product alone: we should aspire to general well-being (GWB). Cameron now monitors the GDP figures as nervously as any prime minister, hoping to find in them a vindication of his economic strategy.