Who has been the UK's worst PM?

People died because of Blair, that’s why. Ditto Thatcher though not so obviously.

volver

In a Union where we still have law-breaking, lazy, irresponsible, useless Johnson in Number 10, I am constantly amazed that people think Tony Blair was a worse Prime Minister. ??

I think it's always coloured by the emotional reaction to the war in Iraq rather than a rational assessment of what his government did to improve the wellbeing of the country and its citizens.

nanna8

People died because of Blair, that’s why. Ditto Thatcher though not so obviously.

And nobody died because of Johnson and how he handled the pandemic? Or how the Tories have abandoned the care sector and the NHS? And how they are endangering people this winter because of their deification of profit in the utilities industries?

I think we need a bit of realism here.

Here is realism for you, the social care problem has never been sorted out, not by any political party in power.

Your spoilt for choice, really, aren’t you?
I’m voting for Cameron and Osborne ( yes I know he wasn’t PM)
The reason being: cuts cuts cuts. I believe the damage those 2 did ( and Hammond) is irreparable.

Prentice could we have a bit of evidence for your remarks about Tony Blair and universities?
I think you are also ignoring SureStart, focus on standards and progress (especially literacy and numeracy), investment in infrastructure and resources especially ICT. (I was there).

Prentice

Here is realism for you, the social care problem has never been sorted out, not by any political party in power.

That doesn’t mean we should stop trying though Prentice, does it?

Many people would have died during the pandemic whoever was the PM at the time. Every country would have made mistakes then.
it looks as if there will be more help forthcoming this Winter.

nanna8

People died because of Blair, that’s why. Ditto Thatcher though not so obviously.

People dying is an effect common to a great many of our governments. Tory austerity from 2010 on is calculated to have killed a great many people. Our current government has presided over 200,000 covid deaths, a significant number of which were preventable. Are we making the number of deaths a government causes the measure of how good or bad it is?
Because in that case I thin Johnson wins...

Prentice

Here is realism for you, the social care problem has never been sorted out, not by any political party in power.

So do you not think its worse now than it was?

Prime Ministers have to take responsibility for how society has changed while they have been in post. That's why they have the job. And nobody can say that anything has got better under Johnson, or even that he has handed the bad things well. Unless one is a millionaire, I expect.

Prentice

Many people would have died during the pandemic whoever was the PM at the time. Every country would have made mistakes then.
it looks as if there will be more help forthcoming this Winter.

It's just bad luck then that the UK comes near the top pf the covid death league then? Nothing to do with the government who presided over this achievement,?

Mamie

Prentice could we have a bit of evidence for your remarks about Tony Blair and universities?
I think you are also ignoring SureStart, focus on standards and progress (especially literacy and numeracy), investment in infrastructure and resources especially ICT. (I was there).

I am not ignoring the good things that Mr Blair did, Sure Start was wonderful.
I am saying why I believe him to have been the worst PM and gave my reasons.
you can look up what he did and said about students and universities, I was here and heard it and read about it.It was what happened, and the big expansion of universities was definitely not a good thing.I expect many of those are now very slimmed down operations.

I sadly fear that this discussion is really about Labour supporters really wanting to only diss Mr Johnson and the Conservative Party and not to truly say which PM they think has been the worst. That, and to argue with anyone who does not agree with their own choice. This I will not do.
I sincerely hope that Labour get into power under Mr Starmer, but will try to stay fair always.
if your particular choice is Mr Johnson as worst PM then say so without castigating the choices of other members, it does nobody any favours in my view.

I've never voted Labour. I'm afraid you analysis doesn't hold up.

Prentice I would just like to see some evidence about the expansion of universities not being a good thing. Many of the newer universities have excellent results and employment placements. Bournemouth, Bristol UWE, Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth, Manchester Metropolitan to name but a few.
Which ones do you think have failed their students?
No political point here, just a request for data.

Prentice

Mamie

Prentice could we have a bit of evidence for your remarks about Tony Blair and universities?
I think you are also ignoring SureStart, focus on standards and progress (especially literacy and numeracy), investment in infrastructure and resources especially ICT. (I was there).

I am not ignoring the good things that Mr Blair did, Sure Start was wonderful.
I am saying why I believe him to have been the worst PM and gave my reasons.
you can look up what he did and said about students and universities, I was here and heard it and read about it.It was what happened, and the big expansion of universities was definitely not a good thing.I expect many of those are now very slimmed down operations.

Prentice, is this the expansion in universities that you are referring to?

A major change to UK higher education occurred in 1992 with the abolition of the "binary divide" between universities andpolytechnics. By theFurther and Higher Education Act 1992, the polytechnics and the Scottish central institutions all became universities. Thesepost-1992(or "new") institutions nearly doubled the number of universities in the UK.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universities_in_the_United_Kingdom

The expansion that happened before Tony Blair became Prime Minister!

I sadly fear that this discussion is really about Labour supporters really wanting to only diss Mr Johnson and the Conservative Party and not to truly say which PM they think has been the worst.

Well, surprise, surprise, even tory voters have 'dissed' Johnson because he is the most unfit person to be PM that we have ever experienced

(I'm afraid I don't recall much about Lord North's ministry, volver, not having been alive at the time though I did write an essay for Uni on the causes of the American revolution and North really just contributed the last straw...)

MerylStreep

Your spoilt for choice, really, aren’t you?
I’m voting for Cameron and Osborne ( yes I know he wasn’t PM)
The reason being: cuts cuts cuts. I believe the damage those 2 did ( and Hammond) is irreparable.

The reason I dislike Cameron so much is that he was false. He paraded his disabled son and made cuts to other peoples disabled children (and the rest) It was unforgivable imo

(and I am very sad his son died, it is an awful thing to have to go through)

Definitely Johnson who was never fit to be PM and should have remained as a lying, self serving journalist.
Thatcher was heartless (destroyed mining communities by closing mines but putting in nothing to replace them). The Falklands War was her attempt to save her political backside. It cost so many lives on both sides and when there was a service in St Paul’s she was angry that the Archbishop talked of the loss of Argentina's lives as well as our own. Yes, reminds you of Johnson who couldn’t wait to sound grandiose in Ukraine.
As for Tony Blair, yes he made a mistake by supporting Bush but he had a long term in office in which he built new hospitals and brought the waiting lists right down to a very acceptable level. Within months of the Tories regaining power they started closing down A&E’s and centralising services.He was a brilliant speaker and kept the Labour Party unified. Yet it is the war that everyone remembers and I know it was terrible but his career was more than that.

Totally agree about Blair Lovetopaint037.
If I remember correctly when Labour left office in 2010 satisfaction with the NHS was at an all time high.
I think if you have views that are left of centre then Thatcher stands for the destruction of socialist principles about the way society should work. She did however have principles of her own and a work ethic.
For laziness and ineptitude combined with cynical abuse of power then Johnson has no rivals in my opinion.

Blair without a shadow of a doubt. Lying, manipulative, murderer who has destroyed British life, the armed forces and our Higher Education sector

Tony Blair

I know we're not supposed to question other posters views, (apparently), but really Neilspurgeon0, have you read any of the other posts at all?

You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but there are several posts completely disproving some of the things that you write.

As for "destroyed British life", that's just a very odd thing to say. Any examples? And I'm not sure we are allowed to call people murderers without any proof?

Since 1945 all PMs have made mistakes - that is par for the course in any difficult job. Even Attlee failed to abolish public schools, Churchill was mostly playing cards in his final period in office. Eden made a poor judgment over Suez. Macmillan messed up over Profumo. Thatcher had to struggle with inflation inherited at about 17% using extreme economic measures. Blair made one error on Iraq which the Left have spent the past 20 years obsessing about and trashing his many achievements during the Corbyn fiasco. Cameron made a poor decision about the Scottish referendum. May never got a grip. Johnson's sins are multiple - manipulation of Brexit to get the job, wasting resources in the pandemic, protecting Patterson, a crude 'solution' to Brexit and generally treating the public as fools.

Johnson gets my vote.

Boris - a deceitful liar, vacillating and unreliable. Abandonning children cannot be excused. He has abundant knowledge but little understanding and doesn't realise the difference.