Your favourite Prime Minister

DonDaddyD

With all this debate going on about Thatcher I've come to realise that I know very little about those who have held office in my lifetime. As this is my font of all knowledge I figured I'd ask you who your favourite or most memorable Prime Minister was and why?

bigmat

John Smith. If only...

TheStone

In my lifetime:

Callaghan - can't remember.
Thatcher - declared war on her own people.
Major - pointless.
Blair - psychopath.
Brown - mental (and very stupid).
Cameron - look at my big shiny head.

rjsterry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Prime_Ministers_of_the_United_Kingdom

rubertoe

Silvio Berlusconi.

edhornby

I was too young to remember Heath so I can choose between Thatcher (er no) Major, Tony, Brown and Cameron, I pick Blair because he's the least worst option and yet he is also frustrating because of the opportunities wasted and choices I disagreed with

I think we are living in a time of uninspiring politicians

The Rookie

Heath - too indescisive and wanting to be liked
Wilson - a bit dim and putty to the unions
Callaghan - nice enough guy but had too big a mess to sort out from Wilson and had no support from his party to do what had to be done
Thatcher - made it clear what she would do, did it, sorted the mess out that was nationalised companies and unions and beaurocracy - got too sold on her own hype
Major - thanksless task and beset by Tory in fighting
Blair - would sell his own mother for a vote, lied continually about growth, weapons dossiers, prudent chancellors, NHS, and had no long term plan at all
Cameron - effectively trying to a Thatcher and sort out a pile off poo created by yet another labour gov't - a bit habit forming (Noting Churchill and ATlee had to do the same once before as well - it's a common theme!)

Best - Churchill, not for himself, but for what he did for the world in 1940, without the tough stance taken by Britain, and without the unwillingness to surrender (effectively) the war would have lasted an aweful lot longer. - no other UK Prime minister will ever be able to match that, sure he had his flaws, but the job got done.

Point to note, we seem to hung up these days on personalities not results do you want a likeable PM or one that gets the job done!

schlepcycling

Jim Hacker

sketchley

Charles Grey. The Reform Act, the abolition of slavery and Earl Grey Tea.

edhornby

"Point to note, we seem to hung up these days on personalities not results do you want a likeable PM or one that gets the job done!"

this I very much agree with - I think this happens because there is increasingly less political debate and too much centrist policy that we are using personality as the differentiator

cyclingprop

edhornby wrote:

"Point to note, we seem to hung up these days on personalities not results do you want a likeable PM or one that gets the job done!"

this I very much agree with - I think this happens because there is increasingly less political debate and too much centrist policy that we are using personality as the differentiator

Increasingly? Where have you been for the last 15 years?

el_presidente

Pitt the Younger seemed a decent enough cove in that Blackadder episode

daviesee

Let me think about that........

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...I may be some time.......

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Nope.

PS:- The best needn't be the most popular (favourite).

davmaggs

George Canning of course.

For those that aren't fans, he fought a duel on Putney Heath with another minister despite having never fired a pistol before (he missed).

CiB

Don't recall Alec Douglas-Home but he seemed a decent chap, with hindsight.

Wilson - always seemed to be a figure of fun for the media (Till Death Us Do Part etc) and oversaw the devaluation of the pound, which to my young eyes was the biggest crime known at the time. England had won the World Cup - how could the prime minister let the pound be devalued?

Heath - always on the end of a battering from the unions and was forced into a three-day week, power cuts and eventually an early election. I wasn't that aware of the machinations behind it all but I recall a sense of unfairness, that the elected PM had to give way to the demands of people who worked with ladders and wore dirty clothes.

Wilson (again) - endless fun for Mike Yarwood, The Comedians and still TDUDP. This was the man who I watched run the country down with inflation up into the 20-25% range, deals with the unions when strikes were the norm, Chancellor Healey being called back off the plane to explain his policies to the IMF, and the football team failing to qualify for two world cups. Life was bad then.

Callaghan - Wilson on Stilts. What a failure, with his continuation of failed policies and his famous TV address to the nation in October 78 when world+dog expected him to call an election and he bottled it, opting to carry on. What colossal disappointment that was, to everyone I knew. Cue winter of discontent - that wasn't a good time to live through. My aged aunt died during that period, and wasn't buried for 5 weeks.

Mrs Thatcher. Gawd bless her. I can't be bothered to argue about her. If you don't like her, that's your issue not mine.

That Nice Mr Major - wheeled in to lose the next election to give us a chance to regroup, and he won it. Hardly a surprise considering he only had Kinnock to beat. Did a good job, the economy grew and he handed over a very strong economy to...

blair. What can I say? An utterly unprincipled c**t, from day 1 when he lined up a load of Labour Party members to wave Union flags as he strode into Downing St as though he owned the place, and with the biggest mandate a PM could wish for steadfastly failed to do anything of any merit during his tenure. The git even banned fox-hunting, just because some gawky kid on a tv prog asked him to and he didn't have the guts to tell her to get stuffed. How much time was wasted on that farce? Blair could have changed the country - he had the world on his side (minus me), and he failed, completely.

Brown. Utter ferking joke of a PM. Good riddance. Sold the gold cheap, filled the country with cheap labour, ingrained the benefit culture to make it the norm. How much effort and cost was there in taking more tax of me so that the civil service could look at it and then give it to my wife? I could have done that without the intervention of govt.

Cameron. At least we've got someone who gives the impression that he knows that he belongs at the top table (unlike the last couple or three) and has some desire to change things. Shame he's only got another 2 years. He's my man.

Favourite? Wilson. He was such a larf. Best? I actually didn't much care for MT at the time and wasn't surprised to see her go. On balance I'd go for Major, for playing a straight bat and getting the economy into a half decent state, and for having the guts to resign and get himself re-elected. Favourite of the lot would be Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, for the title if nothing else.

Mr Neutral.

edhornby

I see what you're saying cyclingprop if you were being super analytical you could say that the discussion around 3rd way politics and 'new labour / compassionate conservatism' was essentially the last vestiges of the debate whereas there is even slighly less now - Mrs T's funeral and the rise of UKIP may be the first stirrings of people wanting some opposing views

rjsterry

CiB wrote:

That Nice Mr Major - wheeled in to lose the next election to give us a chance to regroup, and he won it. Hardly a surprise considering he only had Kinnock to beat. Did a good job, the economy grew and he handed over a very strong economy to...

Seemed like a decent bloke saddled with a party more interested in harakiri than running the country, and as you say, still managed to leave the place in a reasonable state.

blair. What can I say? An utterly unprincipled c**t, from day 1 when he lined up a load of Labour Party members to wave Union flags as he strode into Downing St as though he owned the place, and with the biggest mandate a PM could wish for steadfastly failed to do anything of any merit during his tenure. The git even banned fox-hunting, just because some gawky kid on a tv prog asked him to and he didn't have the guts to tell her to get stuffed. How much time was wasted on that farce? Blair could have changed the country - he had the world on his side (minus me), and he failed, completely.

Well, Northern Ireland seemed to dramatically improve under his tenure - whether that was him or others (e.g. Mo Mowlem), I don't know. Schools finally had some money spent on them - money that wasn't necessarily there to spend, and too much of it was wizzed up the wall on PF-effing-I - but as someone who spent a lot of his school years in freezing 'temporary' classrooms, it was not a moment too soon. Fox hunting? Well if its proponents came clean and admitted that they do it because it's a massive buzz chasing around on horses, as opposed to spurious vermin-control nonsense, then I might have some time for them. There's other stuff as well, but I'm still forced to agree with the unprincipled bit.

Brown was always a bit of a place-holder. If the best that even you can say about Cameron is that he has a sense of entitlement, then we are doomed.

Mr Neutral my ****.

tailwindhome

CiB wrote:

blair

Odd that only Thatcher gets a capital and title.



I always a felt bit sorry for Brown, Blair hung all until the place was f*cked and all the talent in the cabinet had left. A bit like letting your co pilot fly the plane, with the mountain on the horizon, the fuel gauge on empty and you waving a cheery bye-bye as you jump out with the last parachute. Or the Yankees letting the black fella have a go....

Cleat Eastwood

I met harold wilson - he had massive hands.

For no other reason than he seemed a nice chap and was one of the few politicians who had what Dennis Healey called 'a hinterland' - that is an appreciation of the artistic - a place to which he could retreat and re-energise and appreciate the otherness of life - Ted Heath

DonDaddyD

This is where you are wrong wrote:

Fox hunting? Well if its proponents came clean and admitted that they do it because it's a massive buzz chasing around on horses, as opposed to spurious vermin-control nonsense, then I might have some time for them. There's other stuff as well, but I'm still forced to agree with the unprincipled bit.

I am convinced that there is a correlation between the banning of fox hunting and the increase in the number of foxes in our rural and urban areas. Urban foxes in particular are properly gangsta: one chased me for my kebab, another was staring at me all as it rested by the door to a house. The back gardens to my right and left (as well as the guys downstairs) all have foxes in them. It's horrible, they're vermin and if they made mouse traps big enough I'd use them.

Anyway:

I liked Blair because I didn't know any different. I do remember schools being improved and that people were generally a lot happier. However, things got sour and I think removing assisted places scheme has hindered social mobility and limited the social range of kids at the very top in the very best school, and this was a mistake. State schools have improved, yes, but only so much. Also there are a lot more chavs around so no matter how good the state school you have to look at who goes there and who your kids will be mixing with... there, I've said it.

ETA: Say what you want but this is why every single one of my friends have moved out of/will be moving out of London or will send their kids to a fee paying school. I'm sure Clegg came to the same conclusion.

Brown was always a bit of a place-holder. If the best that even you can say about Cameron is that he has a sense of entitlement, then we are doomed.

Brown bullied his way into being Prime Minister and then monumentally f*cked everything up for a generation. It is actually astonishing how badly this guy f*cked up. I mean seriously, why did no one challenge him, publicly out him/whistleblow or anything?

Cameron is a worm, of all the Prime Ministers I get the impression that Tory, Lib Dem, Labour it wouldn't matter what party he's in, his only goal in life was to be Prime Minister. I don't think he is a very good one.

If it can't be the Great David Miliband (you know what, f*ck you Labour! You continually f*ck things up) then my favourite Prime Minister will be Boris Johnson - at least he'll have the guts to abolish Inheritance Tax and perhaps bring back assisted places.

rjsterry

Also there are a lot more chavs around so no matter how good the school you have to look at who goes there and who your kids will be mixing with

Proof if any were needed that you are proper middle class, snobbery and all

I like my new username.

CiB

TailWindHome wrote:

CiB wrote:

blair

Odd that only Thatcher gets a capital and title.

All the others garnered and probably deserved some level of respect for what they achieved and what they did, out of whatever personal convictions they may have held, misguided or otherwise. blair doesn't even merit the normal capitalisation of his name. I despised him on his stroll to No 10, and despised him more as his time in office went on. The only minor satisfaction was seeing the rest of the country gradually coming to realise what I'd thought all along, that he was a real see you next tuesday of a bloke.

DonDaddyD

rjsterry wrote:

Also there are a lot more chavs around so no matter how good the school you have to look at who goes there and who your kids will be mixing with

Proof if any were needed that you are proper middle class, snobbery and all

I like my new username.

Ms DDD is from an Irish/East London cockney heritage, working class and a builders daughter. She finds the notion of fee paying schools abhorrent amongst many other 'middle class' things.

I explained it to her like this. It's not about class or money, it is about aspiration and having the opportunity to aspire.

There is something to be said about sending your children to a school where there are like minded parents and kids raised with similar values as your own. If it is somehow acceptable to want to live in a nice and safe area - away from THAT block of flats or THAT area of social housing and high social deprivation, then why is it somehow not okay to say that I don't want my child mixing with the wrong-uns.

rjsterry

Teehee, I'm only pulling your leg. I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with aspiration, but the way that aspiration is expressed can be quite telling. That said, aspiration is quite a middle class trait. The working and upper classes aren't anywhere near so concerned with climbing the social ladder. And if you're a bit of a lefty, you have the guilt as well - it's a curse I tell you.

rick_chasey

I only really get to choose from Blair, Brown or Cameron. I vaguely remember Major but I was only 9 when he lost.

Blair it is.

walkingbootweather

The Earl of Bath, who was PM for just 2 days between 10 February and 12 February 1746, so never got much of a chance to screw things up. :roll:

MaxwellBygraves

Not in my lifetime, but Clement was the man.

Agent57

Out of the ones who've been in office since I was old enough to take much notice (born 1968, so from Thatcher onwards), Blair.

mtb-idle

From the ones I remember:

Heath - I remember the 3 day week, power cuts, getting the candles out after you got home from school cos you knew it would be dark and cold all night. Unions held the country to ransom, he seemed powerless

Wilson - didn't like him, seemed far too smug.

Callaghan - useless. Remember the winter of discontent, going up to London and seeing it piled high with rubbish. Unions again bought the government and the country to it's knees

Mrs Thatcher - not a likeable person but believed in what she was doing and believed in Britain getting back on it's feet

Major - too wet, no character, even if you believed in his policies you couldn't bring yourself to get behind him. An old boss of mine went to school with him and said Major (previously Chancellor) used to copy his maths homework

Blair - lying, cheating scumbag. Far too sleazy, champagne socialist. Still, he's alright now ain't he?

Brown - Robbed us all blind as chancellor and then out of his depth as PM. A coward

Cameron - pretty weak and don't hold out much hope for him.

So I'm with CiB, it's gotta be Thatcher for me.

timbo58

I'm only 48 but I know my history well enough to make a judgement I hope, an A level in politics helps though.

I'd go with:

Attlee at number 1 without a shadow of a doubt the most prolific law maker (and those laws were truly beneficial to the working classes) considering he was in power 1/2 the time of Thatcher he did some lasting good even 70+ years later.

Smith: by far the best PM the country never had.
Barbara Castle: the woman who really should have been the 1st woman PM.

Frankly I was quite a Blairite at one time (and being a volunteer Labour party worker for several conferences I met them all) I think he gets quite a lot of a bad press to be honest, he was suckered into a number of poor decisions by that fool Bush though it must be said, but a clever and (despite what many say) a conviction politician.
He may well have been a better QC and Cherie a better PM though!

As for Thatcher being a conviction politician: she may have made some decisions based on that, but the way she went after the unions and the damage she did to whole communities in her blinkered determination to win at that was no conviction: it was pure spite.

Just my opinion! :P

greg66_tri_v2.0

CiB nailed it for me.

I'd only add that that seeping pustule Blair was the only person who overtly used the office of PM whilst he was still in it to set himself up for what he no doubt considers an upward career move after he resigned. A sort of wannabe bastard love child of Henry Kissinger, Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama.