[Politics] Worst PM since Thatcher

[Littlemo]

This poll really needs to allow multiple answers. It’s like choosing your favourite from the Bristol stool chart,

 

[Baldseagull]

My view is it got involved in the politics UK political parties did not want to bother....in a sense it outsourced looking after the cleanliness of water, food standards, medicine, employment rights etc and funded things no one else wanted to fund. I have spoken before about pulling out of the EMA.....to simply replicate the work of the EMA in the UK at a huge increased cost to the tax payer and to businesses who will simply pass the cost onto the UK. Utter nonsense which you will pay for. All previously outsourced with the added bonus of being as hands off, or as hands on, as you wanted. Going back to @Commander 's post it's stuff like this which the vast majority of people did not have a clue about and which will ultimately hit them with the extra cost and delays in approval. This is not necessary a delay in the UK MHRA licensing drugs...it's by companies not bothering to initially submit to the UK which is what is now happening.

I was very happy with the areas in which the EU had powers, I just thought that those that weren't might have had Major top of the shit list.

 

[goldstone]

It's always clear how left leaning NSCers are. Thatcher was far from being a bad PM. In fact she was one of the better ones in recent years. Not perfect, but who is? The worst is Blair for the simple and obvious reason that he got us involved in the war in Iraq, the consequences of which are still causing problems all over the Arab world.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It's always clear how left leaning NSCers are. Thatcher was far from being a bad PM. In fact she was one of the better ones in recent years. Not perfect, but who is? The worst is Blair for the simple and obvious reason that he got us involved in the war in Iraq, the consequences of which are still causing problems all over the Arab world.

The numbers were such that the opposition could have easily stopped it. Both parties were complicit.

 

[clapham_gull]

It's always clear how left leaning NSCers are.

The worst is Blair for the simple and obvious reason that he got us involved in the war in Iraq

Contradictory statements that belies your misunderstanding of the politics at the time. Blair was brought to power by many right of centre voters who were happy to give three election wins. He also decided to ally himself with a very right of centre President.

Britain would have gone to that war whichever party was in power.

 

[WATFORD zero]

The numbers were such that the opposition could have easily stopped it. Both parties were complicit.

There's no doubt that Blair made mistakes and campaigning for this was one, but it was Parliament that voted on the war as that is what happens in a parliamentary democracy. Just to be completely clear, once again

Labour 254 out of 410 voted for the invasion (61%)
Conservatives 146 out of 166 voted for the invasion (91%)
Lib Dems 0 out of 52 voted for the invasion (0%)

 

[drew]

It's always clear how left leaning NSCers are. Thatcher was far from being a bad PM. In fact she was one of the better ones in recent years. Not perfect, but who is? The worst is Blair for the simple and obvious reason that he got us involved in the war in Iraq, the consequences of which are still causing problems all over the Arab world.

So before the Iraq war the middle east was a hotbed of peace and tranquility. I didn't realize but now I'm educated on that.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

There's no doubt that Blair made mistakes and campaigning for this was one, but it was Parliament that voted on the war as that is what happens in a parliamentary democracy. Just to be completely clear, once again

Labour 254 out of 410 voted for the invasion (61%)
Conservatives 146 out of 166 voted for the invasion (91%)
Lib Dems 0 out of 52 voted for the invasion (0%)

Agree about Blair. But you are correct it was Parliament which voted for the war and the Tories alone had the numbers to stop involvement. This pretty much always gets overlooked.

 

[Hamilton]

I don’t think that Truss even knows what Truss believes or is going to say. She is the most inept politician. If she gets re-elected then the people living in her constituency should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Hamilton]

It's always clear how left leaning NSCers are. Thatcher was far from being a bad PM. In fact she was one of the better ones in recent years. Not perfect, but who is? The worst is Blair for the simple and obvious reason that he got us involved in the war in Iraq, the consequences of which are still causing problems all over the Arab world.

The Iraq war was going to happen with or without Blair. It was the wrong decision in my view, but I understand the macro politics that led Blair into his decision to back Bush.

Sadly, the great work that Blair did is overshadowed by Iraq. Those Labour governments reinvested in schools, reduced waiting lists, introduced universal tax credits that got people back to work, introduced the minimum wage etc.

But it’s easy to bash him for everything.

 

[lawros left foot]

It's always clear how left leaning NSCers are. Thatcher was far from being a bad PM. In fact she was one of the better ones in recent years. Not perfect, but who is? The worst is Blair for the simple and obvious reason that he got us involved in the war in Iraq, the consequences of which are still causing problems all over the Arab world.

If your only criteria for good/bad PM is taking into an, at the time, a popular Middle Eastern war, then you must surely agree that Corbyn, as one of the only MPs to vote against the war, would have made a cracking PM.


I detested Thatcher, and the revisionism of her legacy by the present Labour Party is sickening, but, even I will admit she got the occasional thing right.
She wasn’t, on the whole a good PM though.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Rarely, has the term clusterf*ck been more appropriate. Makes you think!

 

[Zeberdi]

There's no doubt that Blair made mistakes and campaigning for this was one, but it was Parliament that voted on the war as that is what happens in a parliamentary democracy. Just to be completely clear, once again

Labour 254 out of 410 voted for the invasion (61%)
Conservatives 146 out of 166 voted for the invasion (91%)
Lib Dems 0 out of 52 voted for the invasion (0%)

My earlier comments have been twisted into a bit of a straw argument I think. @Commander was implying that it was just the ‘right wing press’ that were claiming the decision to go to war in 2003 was unlawful. It wasn’t. Many prominent left wing lawyers (especially outside the US/US ) were saying the same thing. It was also widely recognised/claimed that Parliament was misled (as the Chilcot Inquiry subsequently concluded) - something people seem to have forgotten.

However, that doesn’t qualify Blair as the worst PM since Thatcher although I have always thought Iraq was probably Blair’s Waterloo.

I worked for the Labour Party at the time and very much supported Blair’s leadership and was pro-New Labour - as I said above, he was a good leader and rooted out the grassroots socialists who, with their reverence of all things Clause IV and adherence to Keynsian economics, never would have got a post-Thatcherite Labour government elected - the Country had changed fundamentally under Thatcher and Old Labour were anachronistic and out of tune with the public and the provision of public services had undergone something of a metamorphosis - In 1997 Blair with his ‘social contract’ and ‘stakeholder capitalism’ gave us a landslide victory and that is all we wanted after 18 years of Tory government.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Personal view is that anyone who has lived through all those PMs and says "yeah Blair's the worst out of that lot" must have had a lobotomy

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I don’t think that Truss even knows what Truss believes or is going to say. She is the most inept politician. If she gets re-elected then the people living in her constituency should be ashamed of themselves.

Disappointingly, that's one of the few seats the Conservatives are predicted to hold.

New Seat Details - Norfolk South West

 

[Motogull]

Disappointingly, that's one of the few seats the Conservatives are predicted to hold.

New Seat Details - Norfolk South West

And probably one the sensible conservatives would trade to win elsewhere. She's a liability.

 

[faoileán]

Has to be Cameron in my book for the long term damage he has caused to Britain by giving the swivel-eyed lunatics in the Tory party the EU referendum just to keep them quiet. Agreed that Truss was moronic and caused massive medium term harm, and Johnson just a self-serving fool, but Cameron takes the biscuit.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Has to be Cameron in my book for the long term damage he has caused to Britain by giving the swivel-eyed lunatics in the Tory party the EU referendum just to keep them quiet. Agreed that Truss was moronic and caused massive medium term harm, and Johnson just a self-serving fool, but Cameron takes the biscuit.

It's alarming that Blair and Cameron have near enough the same number of votes.
That's what going to Eton will do I guess. Makes even the most crass bullshit seem that bit more acceptable.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

It's alarming that Blair and Cameron have near enough the same number of votes.
That's what going to Eton will do I guess. Makes even the most crass bullshit seem that bit more acceptable.

Blair currently has one more vote than Cameron which is mad. Cameron is the architect of the shitshow we are currently living through. In hindsight I should have voted for him over Truss.

I'm well aware Blair's government wasn't perfect. Tuition fees. PFI to name a couple (the Iraq war is a red herring only the likes of Robin Cook who opposed it at the time can take the moral high ground on that one) If we were to spin the question round his government is the best out of that lot by a mile. Also, if you asked me who I'd have liked during COVID as PM it's him all day long.

 

[zefarelly]

I've never understood this point of view, so maybe you can help me out, H. Cameron was effectively on the losing team and the referendum was effectively the dreaded 'vote of confidence' in him and his leadership. In my opinion, he couldn't have carried on because he would be trying to implement something that he (apparently) didn't believe was the right thing to do for the future of the country. And yes, he called the election, but the people voted for it. If they REALLY didn't want it, the result would be a bit different to 52:48.

I get that it looks like he walked away – "to Nice, wiv 'is trotters up. (TWAT!)" – but can you imagine the pro-Brexit lot being happy about him leading us out of Europe when he wanted to keep us in? He was on borrowed time and if he hadn't have jumped, he would've been pushed. The following years have shown there's no shortage of fellow MPs who are willing to fack over members of their own party.

BTW: Please don't take any of that as a defence of the guy. I generally can't really contain my indifference about politics, but I just think, objectively, it's not as clear cut as being solely down to him.

I didin't think DC was stupid enough to use a potentially ( now proven to be) catastrophically destructive and divisive 'referendum' as a personal vote of confidence.

THinking about it, he's done as much damage to the country as Hitler. . . . So walking away and the mere whiff of a challenge confirms his total flaky c@ntwangle credentials. His legacy make Boris look like a mere clown . . .oh.