Cameron endorsed Iain Duncan Smith in the 2001 Conservative Party leadership election and organised an event in Witney for party supporters to hear John Bercow speaking for him. Two days before Duncan Smith won the leadership contest on 13 September 2001, the &lt;a href="September%2011%20attacks"&gt;9/11 attacks&lt;/a&gt; took place in New York City. Cameron described Tony Blair's response to the attacks as "masterful", saying "He moved fast, and set the agenda both at home and abroad. He correctly identified the problem of Islamist extremism, the inadequacy of our response both domestically and internationally, and supported – quite rightly in my view – the action to remove the Taliban regime from Afghanistan."