Who has been the UK's worst PM?

Its not that long to May 2024. Or it might be sooner if a vote of no confidence can be made. We can then see if that will make a difference. I doubt it. 90% of politicians are only interested in their own and their friends interests not the people.

Dinahmo, agree with everything you’ve said. Thatcher was definitely the worse we’ve had.

Bambi Blair. Cherie gets my vote for being the most pushy PM's wife.

I don't blame people for buying them, even if they did so without a thought for what would come after. It was an offer that must have been difficult to refuse.

I blame the cynical politics that lay behind the decision to do it. Politicians are supposed to be able to look ahead, and are supposed to make policies based on what is likely to happen as a result of them. Thatcher knew that LAs wouldn't be able to build more houses - she wanted to rid the state of the burden of maintaining large numbers of houses which were rented out cheaply. They cost 'the taxpayer' money, but were a safety net for those taxpayers, which was snatched away. The removal of that safety net was the beginning of the 'everyone for themselves' mentality that is still with us, and the beginning of widespread homelessness for people who fall on hard times.

Tony Blair

Peasblossom, I do believe that you are about to get your wish. A version of Thatcher is about to be unleashed upon us, in a completely undeserved and undemocratic way. I wonder which Thatcher cosplay outfit she will wear for her appearance in Vogue.
Johnson is the worst PM to date. Sad that there are so many duffers to chose from.

Thatcher for promoting her Reaganite delusions of 'trickle down wealth'.
Biscuitmuncher, How in God's name can you delineate the US President who consistently encouraged hatred and division in America as helping his country to 'thrive'? The January 6th Commission has definitively shown he did all he could to destroy democracy to keep himself in power.

And it looks like Liz Truss is going to carry in her wKe

Tony Blair for me. His lies about the weapons of mass destruction were so much worse than the lies of Boris because they triggered a huge destabilisation between the east and the west. His agreeing to the influx of people from the extended EU without putting in the infrastructure first to support them is probably why so many people chose to vote for Brexit. The changes to the Disability Benefits system, creating Trusts for the NHS, using private companies to provide medical care and the Student Loans all started with his Government. Oh and the terrible Tax Credit system where poor people are often left with debts to it started with him. Why not make companies pay a decent living wage rather than using a cumbersome, poorly run system to ensure the poor didn't get poorer.
There were good things like Sure Start and more play in the early years of education but certainly the consequences of his actions had huge ramifications for this country and the world.

So many to choose from, and for a variety of reasons…

Boris and Thatcher aren't far apart

Margaret Thatcher by a mile!

Tony Blair. Absolutely disgusting liar and completely loathsome????

Got to be Boris. He's discredited the whole position. Can't really think of any decent PM except maybe Churchill and it's only cos we won WW2 with a huge helping hand from the US and other countries in the commonwealth that he's venerated. But then if we'd lost we wouldn't be having this conversation anyway, or only in German.

Bliar!!

Thank you Zonne for summarising everything that Tony Blair and his government achieved. I reckon Tony Blair is probably the best Labour Prime Minister and Global Statesman we've ever had the privilege to be led by and we have squandered his leadership by persecuting him for making a massively difficult decision in good faith, in a very short space of time, following the tragic massacre of 3,000 civilians in the Twin Towers. In so doing he rid the world of Saddam Hussein and courageously didn't leave the world's security in the hands of one man, George Dubya. However misguided you think the decisions taken in Iraq were, how does brokering peace in Northern Ireland and Kosovo make him a war monger..?
In addition and at the same time, Blair was hamstrung and hounded by a competitive chancellor desperate for his job, which made Blair's position impossible. Despite all of this he spanned social justice and big business with ease. It is purported that the Labour Party during his service, spent the most on education and the NHS than any Tory government has for decades. Currently, the Tory party are trying to privatise the NHS and undermine the BBC (the two biggest jewels in the UK crown.) What a pity we don't have him as prime minister now, instead of the clowns that are pretending to govern us. Sadly Tony Blair, utterly understandably will probably never want to stand as leader of the Labour Party again (if you did Tony, myself and all my friends and colleagues would vote for you as would, by the look of it, most of MumsNet.) Johnson is by far the very worst PM ever, followed closely by Margaret Thatcher.

Mr Blair for all the reasons in icanhandthemback’s post

David Cameron for the referendum and then running for the hills.

Hard to choose between Thatcher and Johnson. Both totally destructive and for that matter, any Tory PM.

@whitewavemk2
I could not agree more. A product of Thatcher to boot.

Tony Blair, for taking us into the Iraq war, and the devestating consequences following it.

Johnson and Thatcher

Well volver I do not argue that your choices are pretty dire. Brown was indeed unsuited but, in his heart far from a bad human. Thatcher may well have sent me and a good few other servicemen to do the job for which we had been trained and, on the way, we all felt that the UN would have sorted it out long before we got there, but Galtiere would not budge and two hard headed leaders often clash and feel they cannot stand down, but does that make them bad? Or just inflexible?

Johnson has overweening ambition and has been damaged since his first days, but whilst he is weak I do not accept that he is inherently bad.

But Blair, pushed by Campbell, managed by Mandelson and out politicked by Bush, was so weak and so malleable that he went even against his own Catholicism and the advice of his AG. That, in my view, is the very definition of bad

Blossoming

David Cameron.

Interesting, Blossoming. I certainly found myself disliking Mr Cameron more than all the others put together...and that was before he ran the Brexit referendum then turned his back on the mess he had made (at that point yet to emerge)... and walked away.

I’ve always voted and will admit to being influenced by issues at the time of the GE. It’s only in recent years that I’ve actually started to follow things more intently. I’d like to go back in time with this interest now to make a better and wider comparison, but I can’t do that.
Boris Johnson is a strong contender from the few in charge since my new awareness, because of the blatant lies he has told. He seems to be riddled with some undesirable characteristics, too - Darius Guppy/journalist episode, the treatment of his former wife. He also picked Cabinet Ministers with, to my mind, some with very distasteful views regarding vulnerable people, including those on low incomes (Ms Coffey) and others who seem to have no grip on their brief (Ms Dorries).

1) I assume you mean Galtieri

2) Blair only became Catholic after he left office. Although I'm quite sure that Catholics have taken us into illegal wars before Blair arrived on the scene.