You can achieve a lot of things in politics

David Cameron bowed out of parliament as
prime minister on Wednesday with a
poignant echo on his own career, leaving

with the line: "I was the future once."
In his final appearance at prime minister's
questions in the House of Commons,
Cameron recalled his own famous line from
his first appearance in the theatrical weekly
sparring session 11 years ago.
Then the newly elected Conservative
opposition leader, he taunted embattled
Labour prime minister Tony Blair: "I want to
talk about the future. He was the future
once."
That vision of change launched Cameron on
his way to becoming prime minister in 2010
-- the youngest in 200 years.
Six years later, he is leaving office under the
shadow of Britain's impending exit from the
European Union -- a career ending
dramatically with his failure to keep Britain
in the bloc.
The convivial atmosphere in parliament
contrasted sharply with the divisions in the
country exposed by the referendum on
which he had staked his reputation.
"You can achieve a lot of things in politics,"
Cameron, 49, said, before a packed lower
house.
"And that, in the end -- the public service,
the national interest -- that is what it's all
about.
"Nothing is really impossible if you put your
mind to it. After all, as I once said, I was
the future, once."
- Standing ovation -
Conservative backbenchers stood to cheer
and applaud him as he left the chamber,
turning to wave to his wife Samantha and
children watching from the gallery.
Colleagues slapped him on the back and
hugged him as he left, shaking hands with
Speaker John Bercow as he went.
The response from opposition MPs was
polite, but not warm.
"The prime minister's legacy will
undoubtedly be that he has taken us to the
brink of being taken out of the European
Union, so we will not be applauding his
premiership on these benches," said Scots
Nationalist MP Angus Robertson.
With his successor Theresa May sat beside
him, Cameron told MPs: "I will watch these
exchanges from the backbenches, I will
miss the roar of the crowd, I will miss the
barbs from the opposition, but I will be
willing you on."
One of the set-piece occasions of
parliament, prime minister's questions is
rough-and-tumble political theatre at its best
-- as Cameron himself recalled.
He recounted how, when he was the
opposition leader, he met mayor Michael
Bloomberg in New York.
"No one had a clue who I was until
eventually someone said, 'Hey! Cameron!
Prime minister's questions! We love your
show!," Cameron said, attempting a US
accent.
- Love for Larry -
Cameron said he would miss Larry, the
Downing Street cat who will be staying on in
the prime minister's residence.
He said he wanted to put to rest "the
rumour that I somehow don't love Larry. I do
and I have photographic evidence to prove
it", holding up a picture.
"Sadly I can't take Larry with me: he
belongs to the house and the staff love him
very much -- as do I."
Amid the tributes, some MPs made
suggestions for his future role, noting
vacancies as England's football manager,
the presenter of BBC motoring show Top
Gear and the judge on a dancing contest
television show.
The final question was given to
Conservative heavyweight Kenneth Clarke,
the 1990s finance minister.
He urged Cameron to keep speaking from
the backbenches as Britain negotiates its
exit from the European Union.
"We need his advice and his statesmanship
as much as we ever have," Clarke said.
To laughter, Cameron recalled that Clarke's
first act on becoming finance minister was
to sack him as a Treasury special advisor.
Despite the often bloodsport nature of
PMQs, one of the beauties of the system is
that the prime minister always gets the last
word.