Who has been the UK's worst PM?

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)

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...)

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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,?

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.

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...

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.

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?

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).

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Prentice

Dinahmo

Gillycats

Tony Blair was far worse than anyone. He and Gordon Brown did so much damage to this country which is why people turned to the Tories.

I guess that you haven't read the explanations given here and elsewhere.

Dinahmo
unfortunately you are doing here what many on social media do when faced with opposing views they do not like, which is to
suggest that others do not understand or have not read enough.
the member who started the discussion asked for our thoughts on who we saw as the worst PM.This, Gillycats has done.

Do you think you could refrain from being patronising. We do not need lectures on our behaviour on social media.

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. ??

Worst so far? Tony Blair.

But Liz Truss is almost certainly bound to overtake even him for this dubious title.

Dinahmo

Gillycats

Tony Blair was far worse than anyone. He and Gordon Brown did so much damage to this country which is why people turned to the Tories.

I guess that you haven't read the explanations given here and elsewhere.

Dinahmo
unfortunately you are doing here what many on social media do when faced with opposing views they do not like, which is to
suggest that others do not understand or have not read enough.
the member who started the discussion asked for our thoughts on who we saw as the worst PM.This, Gillycats has done.

Katie59

There may well be those who have personal reasons to dislike Churchill but he was the one outstanding leader of the 20th century.
If he had not stood up for democracy in Britain would have been occupied by Germany like France was, then it would not have been possible for the allies, to liberate Europe.

this message is so true.
whatever Mr Churchill did or said prior to 1939, he was just the PM that we needed at the time.

Kinsi10

Tony Blair, followed closely by Thatcher

these are my choices too.
much as it pains me to say it, because I vote Labour and he did accomplish some good things, Tony Blair would be the top of my list.
quite apart from the awful war in Iraq, and yes I do know that the US were going in there anyway and the same results would have ensued, we did not have to agree to do the same.
education is another matter and Mr Blair wanted 50% of school children to go to university.It is obvious that a huge percentage such a that would never be able to do that. so standards were lowered and third rate universities created along with third rate degree courses.
this resulted in a high degree of student debt for many and did not lead to the jobs they were hoping for either.It also took away from the jobs they may otherwise have gone into which were useful to society and their own earning power too.It did a huge disservice to that young generation in my view.
also, social spending is a good thing but it went far too far and created a why do I bother to work when I can live on benefits easily scenario, which I saw first hand many times.
There was also the distinct feeling that Mr Blair would do anything to be popular, something he had in common with Mr Johnson.

Looking across the Atlantic, it is good to see that the state is showing its muscles against Trump who considers himself above the law.

I hope the same happens to Johnson.