Who has been the UK's worst PM?

Tony Blair. Devolution, a ‘gift that keeps on giving’. Mass, uncontrolled immigration. Ditto. ‘Weapons of mass destruction’ which so devalued the United Kingdom in the eyes of many in the world.

A few facts about the Iraq War:

The Chilcot report states that Blair was advised by the chief of the defense staff that civilian casualties would likely be in the low hundreds.

British Armed Forces deaths were 179. Casualties were 2703 up to October 2004.

Estimates for PTSD vary but recent figures suggest 17% of veterans in combat in Iraq and/or Afghanistan have PTSD with a further 30% predicted to develop a mental health condition. I don't know how this compares with earlier wars.

A survey carried out in 2013 estimates 461,000 excess deaths occurred between 2003 and 2011. There have been many surveys carried out and they all reach different conclusions. Basically it is almost impossible to get at all records.

Blair followed Bush into Iraq, possibly because of the supposed "special relationship" which appears to exist just for America's benefit.

Dinahmo and Gagajo I agree . Mrs Thatcher was so destructive to our society and culture.

Amalegra

Tony Blair. Devolution, a ‘gift that keeps on giving’. Mass, uncontrolled immigration. Ditto. ‘Weapons of mass destruction’ which so devalued the United Kingdom in the eyes of many in the world.

Devolution is a bad thing Amalegra? ?
You have to be English.

Thatcher, for giving away our previously publicly-owned water, gas and electricity producers. And breaking up British Rail. We're reaping the problems with these policies now. Also for forcing the sale of so much of our social housing stock which has never been fully replaced.

There's quite a time lag between my writing and then posting the above - 16.56.29 and I have now read the intervening posts.

Many are complaining about the losses during the Iraq War but, if you look at the numbers, the UK did not lose that many. (Admittedly each one is one too many). At the time Saddam Hussein seemed to be ruling an "enlightened" regime in that girls were allowed to be educated and women to work and dress as they wished, which is in complete contrast to the situation in Afghanistan at that time.

However, we were/are not able to see into the future and we do not know how the situation might have changed in Iraq.

The Iraq War came shortly after the conflict in former Yugoslavia and it's possible Blair thought a regime change would be beneficial. Obviously we have no right to inflict regime change.

I'm 75 and was opposed to the Iraq War as we shouldn't be interfering. My DH was in the large samba band that marched through the London streets in the demonstration. I could not go because of my health. I remember having many arguments with friends who agreed with the UK's intervention. Memory however, is a funny thing and I suspect that most of them would deny their stance at that time.

I am 72 today !!

"Amelegra" In March 2003 the US state Department issued a list of 31 countries who joined the War coalition. over the next few days that number increased to 49. They must also have believed the reasons for going to war. With that number, I hardly think that the UK was devalued in the eyes of many in the world.

Susieq62

I am 72 today !!

Many happy returns. I hope you are having a lovely day. It's good to get past the three score years and ten.

I’m not going to jump in with one of the modern Prime Ministers because I didn’t like her/his policies, although I can think of a number of more recent ones who could be legitimately criticised.

I’m going to say Neville Chamberlain. It seems to me that he had little resolution and jumped for the easiest solution, which ultimately led us into WW2. We will never know what might have happened if he had shown more resolve, but he totally lacked the backbone that was required in order to prevent Hitler from thinking the world didn’t care. Chamberlain lacked any moral compass in my opinion because he was willing to overlook the partition of what became known as Czeckoslovakia, also the taking over of Austria by Hitler’s henchmen although it could be argued that the Austrians wanted that development. Appeasement was Chamberlain’s middle name, he negotiated with the devil, and sold out millions of Jewish people and others.

Peace in our time

he said after returning from negotiations with Hitler.

Ultimately we were led into WW2 and all that it brought, death, destruction, racism, murder. At least Chamberlain wasn’t leading us through the war because God knows what the outcome would have been if he had.

I'm 72. The first PM I was really aware of is Macmillan. Not that I was actually politically aware at that age. Interestingly, my parents took the Daily Express and Giles, and sometimes Osbert Lancaster, was quite a political cartoonist.

So I've seen SuperMac, Douglas-Home, Heath, Wilson, Callagahn, Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown and the last 3. Have I missed any?

Johnson is the absolute worst. Thatcher a very close runner up.

What a difficult question. Thatcher (selling off the family silver), Blair (the Iraq war), Cameron (Brexit, austerity and running down the NHS and state education, ending free tuition for student nurses), and May (her Brexit 'deal' and calling an unnecessary election) have all got their serious failings, although Johnson was the first one where I lost total respect for the office of prime minister with all the corruption (contracts and peerages for mates) and Brexit at any cost and general ineptitude (vaccines excluded) and booting any half decent Tory out of the party / not promoting talent. I also reserve much contempt for all those in opposition in 2019 who didn't work together for the greater good of the country; especially Jo Swinson for allowing her own ego to help force a general election that subsequently allowed Johnson and the Tories such a free reign, despite getting less than 50% of the vote. I could go on about the current opposition leader who needs to seriously up his game, especially as the next PM is likely to be even worse than all of the above.

What power Blair had, to force other countries into Iraq,

I'm another for Tony Blair!

Dear GagaJo, it is not at all widely held in the US, where we actually live with the policies and rub up against the politicians, that Trump has been the worst President. In recent history, Jimmy Carter has won that title, hands down, before Biden's election. Biden is now quickly coming up the rear and gaining fast. He did get elected, but not by a great margin, and ever so many are suffering from his policies now. Just saying.?

It would be interesting if posters could look beyond very recent history. The question is who was the worst Prime Minister in the UK ever. The majority of the replies have thrown up the usual suspects, all comparatively recent, having held the position during the last 40 years or so.This country has a long history, is no one willing to look beyond their own lifetime for the worst Prime Minister? Obviously it’s easy to point to the perceived failings of politicians that we know from recent history, but it would be interesting to hear the views of posters on people who held this position before the very recent years. I volunteered Neville Chamberlain as a very poor quality Prime Minister and said why I think that. I don’t know that he was the worst in history, there are probably a few who could legitimately qualify for that dubious honour, but just reading Thatcher, Blair, Johnson is getting a bit tedious. Are there no historians on here who could enlighten us?

A little research suggests Anthony Eden is thought to be the worst Prime Minister of fairly recent history. I think one poster did mention him. Primarily it seems it was his handling of the Suez crisis that earned him this label.

It would be interesting if posters could look beyond very recent history.

Not all of us know the history of previous PM's beyond our lifetime and don't have the time to research.

Agree

Well, if you're looking for corruption, Walpole was a corrupt Pm; operated in a way very similar to Johnson; bribing MPs with promises of sinecures, honours and lucrative positions in return for their support. I don't think he made too bad a job of running the country, but you have to appreciate that up until the extension of the suffrage and the entry of fewer MPs with close familial or friendship ties to the elite, whoever was PM was running the country for the benefit of the wealthy elite. It was really quite different from the more recent past.

Immorality? Palmerston was one for the ladies and indulged in a bit of bed hopping on country house visits. I believe Lloyd George was no saint.

Indifference to the wellbeing of the population? Well, most of them were until it was forced upon them that most adult males were in no fit state to be enlisted in the army to fight in our rather frequent wars... The poor physical quality of recruits worried them greatly come the Boer War.

Mendacity? I'm not sure of. I think they were mostly quite honourable men in the days when 'honour' was more highly thought of.

I'm afraid that Johnson still outdoes every single one of them,

(I read 18th/early 19th C history at uni)

Just in my lifetime there have been two appalling PMs

It would be easy to say that Boris Johnson was the worst because he wanted to damage our country and was lazy. corrupt and incompetent.

However in my opinion he has not been as damaging as Margaret Thatcher who wanted to damage our country and was hard working and competent.

A lot of the views expressed here reflect the political opinions of their authors, which is understandable.

It seems to me that with one exception, each Prime Minister thought that he or she was doing his/her best for the country, however much we might disagree with what they did while in office, and they respected the constitution, such as it is, and the supremacy of the House of Commons as elected by the people.

The exception is of course Johnson, and I can honestly say that he is the only Prime Minister in my lifetime that I have actually despised.

A Conservative canvasser knocked on my door today, and I told him that while how I voted was my business, he could take it that I would not vote for our local MP, who had been prominent in getting Johnson elected party leader.

Thatcher and Johnson - not much to choose between them.

Anniebach

What power Blair had, to force other countries into Iraq,

Why did it have to be Blair? The driving power was America.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one.