Gideon Donald

Gideon Donald is a British Conservative Party thinker and strategist. He has been at the heart of New Conservatism since the project was established in the wake of Tony Blair's third consecutive election victory.
Donald is a long time confidante of David Cameron. They both attended Heatherdown(where Donald captained the XI), Eton(where Donald was Head of Pop) and Oxford University (where Donald introduced Cameron to Vernon Bogdanor). After coming down from Oxford both men started working at Central Office. Their paths diverged when Cameron left to work for Carlton TV while Donald returned to Oxford to become a Fellow of All Souls. When Cameron was head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 campaign it was Donald, who had just cashed in his hedge-fund, he turned to for help after what is referred to as the 'Sandra Howard incident'.
Donald was instrumental in urging Cameron to run against David Davis, despite, at the time, being an unofficial speechwriter for the former Shadow Home Secretary. He continued in this role for his old friend and it is believed that is was Donald who wrote the majority of the speech delivered at Conference which transformed Cameron from outsider to fancied contender. The phrase 'compassionate conservatism' is generally agreed to have been coined by him. This surprising those who considered him to be the heir to Thatcher.
In 2008, Donald started writing a column in the New Statesman, entitled "Preparing for Power", which has proved to be obligatory reading for anyone interested in 21st century British politics.

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