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I realise that political divide will flavour people's judgements but are there any in more recent times who can transcend that to be considered good by people from all persuasions?
My adult life started with Maggie and I don't think we've had a decent PM in all that time, the only one I probably liked in any way was Major but I can't imagine too many agreeing.
Going back before my time? Attlee?
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:37 - Mar 26 by factual_blue
Harold Wilson. Clem Atlee. David Lloyd George. Stanley Baldwin. Gladstone. All of these were far, far more skilled at the 'dark arts' of politics. And, of course, Harold Wilson had a brain the size of a planet.
Harold Wilson bought fish and chips and chips from my Dad's shop when I were a lad, so he's probably the last PM to put money in the family coffers.
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:36 - Mar 26 by footers
Very generous.
He was better than most people think.
'Appeasement' was the only course of action at Munich: the heads of the Dominion Governments made it abundantly clear that they wouldn't fight over the issue. Britian had nowhere near enough armaments for a war. The French blew hot & cold over a war at that time.
He was however helped indirectly by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935, in which the Germans agreed to limit their navy to something like 35% of the British Navy. Although Hitler renounced the treaty in 1939, it meant the Germans weren't in a position to invade Britain in 1940, an invasion which would, apparently have ended disasterously for them.
Brown - history will look very kindly on his response to the 2008 crisis. Major - principally responsible for the Good Friday Agreement (RIP Mo Mowlem) Blair - Much good restorative work was done on the country in his first term - Minimum wage, Education funding (esp. capital spending), NHS, depoliticising interest rate setting, etc. etc.
Thatcher (I believe) gets a lot of loyal supporters because she delivered a lot of what her voters wanted. Unfortunately for her reputation, it was at the expense of those that didn't. And she gave birth to the PFI monster.
Overall, I'd say Brown. He coolly acted in the best interests of the country knowing his personal reputation was (unfairly) going to be shredded. The world cut and paste his solution.
Of course, they all went mad apart from John Major, but then there was Edwina ...
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Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:47 - Mar 26 with 1859 views
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:34 - Mar 26 by yorkshire
I would agree about Blair and Cameron - Blair came in at a time when the economy was doing well and the country felt good about itself
Cameron with the help of Clegg steadied the ship and between them they made a lot of positive changes that you wouldn't normally get under a Tory (Right) Government
Obviously both lost their legacy with some very poor decisions but neither were massively out of the depths unlike most of the others in my time (Maggie being my first - and she made some horrendous mistakes)
lol Cameron lol
In the spirit of reconciliation and happiness at the end of the Banter Era (RIP) and as a result of promotion I have cleared out my ignore list. Look forwards to reading your posts!
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:44 - Mar 26 by factual_blue
Did your dad's chip shop get bombed in the Great Chip Shop War of 1939-1945?
Nah, my Dad was a bit young then, but his parents were caught in the Blitz, my Mum grew up in South Wales due to that chip shop war in the capital.
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:46 - Mar 26 by XYZ
(Post 1979)
Brown - history will look very kindly on his response to the 2008 crisis. Major - principally responsible for the Good Friday Agreement (RIP Mo Mowlem) Blair - Much good restorative work was done on the country in his first term - Minimum wage, Education funding (esp. capital spending), NHS, depoliticising interest rate setting, etc. etc.
Thatcher (I believe) gets a lot of loyal supporters because she delivered a lot of what her voters wanted. Unfortunately for her reputation, it was at the expense of those that didn't. And she gave birth to the PFI monster.
Overall, I'd say Brown. He coolly acted in the best interests of the country knowing his personal reputation was (unfairly) going to be shredded. The world cut and paste his solution.
Of course, they all went mad apart from John Major, but then there was Edwina ...
This is what Brown left us with. And why the labour party won't be be back in power any time soon...
-3
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:51 - Mar 26 with 1841 views
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:46 - Mar 26 by XYZ
(Post 1979)
Brown - history will look very kindly on his response to the 2008 crisis. Major - principally responsible for the Good Friday Agreement (RIP Mo Mowlem) Blair - Much good restorative work was done on the country in his first term - Minimum wage, Education funding (esp. capital spending), NHS, depoliticising interest rate setting, etc. etc.
Thatcher (I believe) gets a lot of loyal supporters because she delivered a lot of what her voters wanted. Unfortunately for her reputation, it was at the expense of those that didn't. And she gave birth to the PFI monster.
Overall, I'd say Brown. He coolly acted in the best interests of the country knowing his personal reputation was (unfairly) going to be shredded. The world cut and paste his solution.
Of course, they all went mad apart from John Major, but then there was Edwina ...
I bet Edwina was a naughty little sort,plus I love eating curry.
1
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 18:22 - Mar 26 with 1711 views
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:23 - Mar 26 by Clapham_Junction
Gordon Brown, on the basis that I think he was the last PM to genuinely care about people. Must have been awful for him to have to hand over the keys of number 10 to his successor, knowing what they were likely to do to the country.
Yeah, without Gordon Brown the people would have had to do without roullette in every village, town and city. Imagine, no gambling ads on billboards, player shirts, half time ad breaks, online and in the high st.
His moral compass was a roullette wheel.
1
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 18:22 - Mar 26 with 1712 views
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:46 - Mar 26 by XYZ
(Post 1979)
Brown - history will look very kindly on his response to the 2008 crisis. Major - principally responsible for the Good Friday Agreement (RIP Mo Mowlem) Blair - Much good restorative work was done on the country in his first term - Minimum wage, Education funding (esp. capital spending), NHS, depoliticising interest rate setting, etc. etc.
Thatcher (I believe) gets a lot of loyal supporters because she delivered a lot of what her voters wanted. Unfortunately for her reputation, it was at the expense of those that didn't. And she gave birth to the PFI monster.
Overall, I'd say Brown. He coolly acted in the best interests of the country knowing his personal reputation was (unfairly) going to be shredded. The world cut and paste his solution.
Of course, they all went mad apart from John Major, but then there was Edwina ...
As Mo pointed out, it was Blair who was able to seal the GFA. Only he, apparently, had spotted that Iain Paisley was driven by overweening vanity. He therefore made sure Paisley got a top job, thereby making sure the GFA happened.
Great emotional intelligence, you see. Can you imagine theresa displaying the same innate understanding of how people tick.
Edwina was hung out to dry by her Civil Servants over the eggs controversy. She was thoroughly nasty to everybody she worked with, so they got her out.
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:00 - Mar 26 by chicoazul
Churchill was a good war leader but he was a very bad person in general, and his second term was not good. Kenya.
While he was very good in the summer of 1940, things began to rather fall apart by the following year. He was very nearly deposed in '42. Tended to drive people mad with bonkers ideas which were wildly impractical, forcing them to argue until blue in the face to dissuade him.
Not that any of this became known until after the War when people like Alanbrooke and Moran began publishing their memoirs.
By his second term, Churchill was approaching his 77th birthday and, at times, barely able to function, having already suffered from the first of his strokes. The second, more severe, occurring in 1953 and paving the way for his retirement.
However, all Blair’s good work will be forever overshadowed by the Iraq war and Cameron’s good work will be forever overshadowed by allowing the referendum to happen and then promptly losing it, creating the utter shambles we have now.
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 18:58 - Mar 26 by XYZ
What is rarely reported is that he left a growing economy that was recovering from the biggest international crash since 1929.
If that had been nurtured rather than extinguished by austerity and tories talking the country down then we'd all be a lot better off in 2019.
I admire your photo posting skills and am actively looking for other admirable traits you may have.
With respect, that was a problem largely of his own making in his efforts to deregulate the sector. Whether that would have insulated us from much of the crisis we won't know, but it certainly instilled a gung-ho nature in the financial industry that was and still is very dangerous.
Unfortunately, we are now bent over a barrel by financiers and the City is literally the Wild West, only with central London postcodes. In the US you'd get life for what some people are continuing to do here.
He also claimed to have ended boom and bust which is frankly a fcking bizarre thing for anyone to say, let alone the Chancellor.
Dear old footers KC - Private Counsel to Big Farmer - Liberator of Vichy TWTD
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 16:08 - Mar 26 by Marshalls_Mullet
That's why I said 'at times'.
Blair had Iraq, Cameron had the referendum.
Cameron had a lot more against than that. He started his tenure after buying votes from the ERG by giving away our standing in the European Parliament. He was a fraud and a coward; a close candidate for worse PM ever.
Who was our last decent Prime Minister? on 19:02 - Mar 26 by footers
With respect, that was a problem largely of his own making in his efforts to deregulate the sector. Whether that would have insulated us from much of the crisis we won't know, but it certainly instilled a gung-ho nature in the financial industry that was and still is very dangerous.
Unfortunately, we are now bent over a barrel by financiers and the City is literally the Wild West, only with central London postcodes. In the US you'd get life for what some people are continuing to do here.
He also claimed to have ended boom and bust which is frankly a fcking bizarre thing for anyone to say, let alone the Chancellor.
Holding him responsible for a global banking meltdown is a bit much. He deregulated too far in hindsight, but there were very few saying that at the time and many prominent tories criticised him for not going far enough.
If the tories had won in 2005 (yes, I know) then 2008 would have been far far worse.
If you're worried about the city's influence, you'd have to go back to 1986 - 1989 and Nigel Lawson's disastrous changes.
I'll give the Boom and Bust quote - it was probably his Alistair Campbell equivalent's idea, though. I've forgotten the name - there was some scandal or such and he had to resign I recall).
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