Alexander Cameron, star Silk at the criminal Bar and David Cameron’s loyal older brother – obituary

Alexander Cameron, who has died from cancer aged 59, was one of the finest advocates at the criminal Bar and the elder brother of the former prime minister David Cameron.

A popular and fun-loving figure – “everyone loved him, almost instantly,” a friend said – he was described in legal reference books as “a commanding advocate”, “completely unflappable” and “a strong, strategic thinker”.

He appeared in the first televised case from the Court of Appeal since cameras were banned in 1925; in October 2013 viewers saw him applying for leave to appeal on behalf of Kevin Fisher, who was serving seven years for his role in a plot to produce £1.5 million of counterfeit £1 coins.

David Cameron, who watched proceedings on an iPhone while on a train to Wolverhampton, reflected on how different the quiet, deliberative atmosphere of the Court of Appeal was to the fast-talking point-scoring of Prime Minister’s Questions: “I said to my brother, perhaps he would like to do a job swap for a day.”

Alex Cameron’s cases ranged from insider dealing to fraud, robbery and murder. As a junior he played a pivotal role in the Blue Arrow corporate bank fraud case and as a young barrister he fought the extradition of General Pinochet. He defended Jonathan Aitken and Jeffrey Archer, both of whom were convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in their respective trials.

In 2011 he defended the Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif against allegations of match fixing; a year later he represented Hans Kristian Rausing, the Tetra Pak billionaire who hid the body of his wife Eva after her death, when he pleaded guilty to charges of delaying burial of her body.

Away from court Alex Cameron was a tower of strength to his brother during David’s time at No 10 from 2010 to 2016. Alex had encouraged his sibling to stand for the Conservative Party leadership in 2005 and, as David Cameron noted in his memoir, For the Record (2019): “This meant a lot.”

In 2014, however, Alex Cameron, who took on a significant amount of pro bono work, acted on a pro bono basis in a successful application on behalf of five defendants to have a complex multi-million pound fraud case against them halted on the grounds that cuts to legal aid imposed by his brother’s government meant that they could not find barristers of “sufficient competence” to defend them.

The case brought headlines such as “PM Cameron’s brother in victory against government”. There was a vigorous brotherly disagreement on the matter, but no ill feelings, as all the Cameron siblings had been brought up to argue and debate round the kitchen table.

Alex showed characteristic loyalty, moreover, in 2016 when leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca appeared to implicate the Cameron family in tax avoidance, persuading his brother that every accusation needed to be rebutted, and gathering expert advice. “For once I saw my brother the QC close-up, using his forensic skills and getting the job done. It was impressive,” David wrote.

Allan Alexander Cameron was born on August 27 1963, the eldest of four children of Ian Cameron, a stockbroker with Panmure Gordon, and his wife Mary (née Mount), a magistrate; his siblings were Tania, David and Clare. He was six when the family moved to the Old Rectory at Peasemore in Berkshire, which in 2006 became his family home when their parents moved into an adjacent house.

He played cricket for the First XI at Heatherdown prep school, where he was a contemporary and friend of Prince Edward (now the Duke of Edinburgh). They appeared in a school production of Toad of Toad Hall, with Cameron as Ratty and Edward as Mole; the audience of parents included the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. He was also invited to sleepovers at Windsor Castle, where he once had breakfast on the Queen’s bed.

In Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones (2008), David Cameron discussed living in the shadow of an older brother. “They go to a school, you start going to school, they start playing football, you start playing football, they kiss girls, you start kissing girls,” he said, adding that he sometimes worried “that I was never going to break out of my brother’s shadow”. Even after his brother had become prime minister, Alex Cameron never stopped being a role model for him.

In July 1981 Alexander, David and Tania slept on hard ground opposite Buckingham Palace to have a prime spot to see the royal carriages heading to St Paul’s Cathedral for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Four years later the Cameron brothers held a joint 21st/18th birthday party on the day of Bob Geldof’s Live Aid concert at Wembley.

At Eton, Alex Cameron was a member of Pop. He then read Law at Bristol and studied acting and mime at the Jacques Lecoq school in Paris, acquiring skills that would serve him well both in the courtroom and on visits to the Edinburgh Fringe. One memorable performance was with a school contemporary, Jay Jopling (future founder of the White Cube gallery), in a production of Waiting for Godot.

He was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1986, took Silk in 2003 and in 2010 was elected head of chambers at Three Raymond Buildings.

He retired through ill health in November 2020.

Alex Cameron, whose own political ambitions were confined to chairing the local parish council, stood tall and imposing at 6ft 3in, but as an advocate he had a light touch. His gift, a colleague recalled, was that “he was incredibly grounded and incredibly empathetic – coupled with a real intellect.”

He had an unnerving insight into the unexpected questions that might bother a jury and, faced with a hostile judge, he stood his ground with impeccable courtesy but not giving an inch. He got on easily with people from all walks of life, minded deeply about doing the best he could for his client, and retained his commitment to the case to the very end – he was not like those barristers whose interest wanes as soon as they have given their final speech.

“Al was my star pupil,” his pupil master Sir John Nutting KC recalled. “He had a royal straight flush in talent: he had judgment, industry, determination, brains, looks and talent.” And there was always a lighter side: “He was such fun to do a case with – endless jokes.”

Cameron continued playing football and cricket in adult life, was a member of MCC, and travelled widely, with a liking for unusual corners of inland Spain.

He married, in 1990, Sarah Fearnley-Whittingstall, a lawyer and cousin of the television chef Hugh. She survives him with their daughter, Imogen, and son, Angus.

Alexander Cameron KC, born August 27 1963, died March 21 2023