Best recent British PM?

Who was the best British prime minister?

  • Rishi Sunak

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Liz Truss

    Votes: 3 11.5%
  • Boris Johnson

    Votes: 1 3.8%
  • Theresa May

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • David Cameron

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Gordon Brown

    Votes: 9 34.6%
  • Tony Blair

    Votes: 6 23.1%
  • John Major

    Votes: 3 11.5%
  • Margaret Thatcher

    Votes: 4 15.4%

  • Total voters
    26
I must say I am a bit surprised by the rehabilitation of Tony Blair here. I remember him (on this forum) before the Iraq invasion and he was responsible for gutting everything and making Britain into a fascist police state.

Say, what?
 
Cameron probably did more than anyone for the cause of Scottish independence and Irish unification so he's got that going for him
 
I voted Major, is there anything I don't know about him that would make him worse than Blair or Brown?
 
Presumably he did something to warrant being replaced with Blair.

Voted Brown because he the only Labour PM besides Blair on the list.
 
The something he did was to preside over the last seven years of the 18-year Tory privatisation of the country (as opposed to the 13 years and counting current Tory misrule).
 
I don't know? Perhaps the last decent one was that chap who instituted public health in the form of the NHS? Goes back some time, to people my parents' age and rationing, but still.
 
Honestly, he got a bad rap for being a grumpy Scot, like either of those things were relevant. The Chancellor backlash was still fresh, but I believe the economic necessities has made him look better in retrospect on that over time (in that it could've been a lot worse, and the Tories have spent every year since then cratering our economy anyway).
 
Brown had the disadvantage of being seen as "continuity Blair", like Major was "continuity Thatcher", so he was always doomed from the start, but he also had the global financial meltdown during his tenure.
 
Honestly, he got a bad rap for being a grumpy Scot, like either of those things were relevant. The Chancellor backlash was still fresh, but I believe the economic necessities has made him look better in retrospect on that over time (in that it could've been a lot worse, and the Tories have spent every year since then cratering our economy anyway).

The whole grumpy Scot thing was seem as such a big deal that Brown's PR team literally trained him to smile. Which was even worse because he'd suddenly pull these awful fake grins in interviews where his lips were smiling but his eyes weren't. Personally I think he'd have been better off sticking with the dour Scotsman look, rather than making it so obvious that he'd hit a cue in his speech notes saying "smile here!"

Brown and Labour never had much chance at the 2010 election after the whole financial crisis. Also the issue of Labour having been in for over a decade, and the "politicians need changing regularly" viewpoint. I don't think Blair would have stood down in the first place if he thought Labour had a serious shot at winning.
 
Apparently, it's only Labour that needs changing regularly. The Tories have spent 31 of the last 44 years in power.
 
Apparently, it's only Labour that needs changing regularly. The Tories have spent 31 of the last 44 years in power.
Corbyn was to become prime minister, to stave off hard brexit. Remember what happened then with the libdem and snp blocking that and instead suggesting a tory? (Ken Clarke) :)
It's disgraceful, really. Another missed opportunity. Then again, at least libdem/snp were not of his own party, so had reasons to undermine him.
 
Corbyn wasn't going to become Prime Minister, as we saw very dramatically in Christmas 2019.
 
Well, if all PMs since and including Atlee and Churchill were an option, there would be an obvious answer. :)

The most competent are probably between Thatcher, Major and Brown. Blair had his own succes story, but was seriously compromised by his decision to invade Iraq with the US. Especially considering that some of his own intelligence network and legal experts informed his government, that the whole basis for partaking in the war, was challenged.

I chose Major, though I would never vote for the British Conservatives, if I could vote.
 
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