Who was PM during the best of times for you?

John Smith was such a loss.
Probably Callaghan for me. I bloody loved the 70s.
I had a great early 80s too, but it was because I was in my early 20s..nothing to do with that monstrous woman.

Its interesting so many have said Blair/Brown. When I saw the question I had no hesitation and didn't even have to think about it.

You mean “Causation in the correlation years. I think it’s Cameron rather than coalition though.”

This is very true i.was a nurse during the Blair years ,and from what I remember was that yes he threw money at the NHS, but not where it was needed ,I remember lots of Shiney new initiatives ,new buildings ,endless tiers of management with their endless meetings and not achieving very much ,loads more documentation brought in ,everything looked great on paper ,but I don't remember patient care improving much ,but he was the master of Spin ,and by the end of the Blair/ Brown years they were closing wards and departments in my trust at least due to cuts ,I was redeployed twice in 12 months between 2005/2006 due to " cuts"

Blair/Brown

I think in the UK they were just getting things right (no comment on their policies outside the UK). They had the NHS really getting there and education was good. So disappointed with what Gove did to education a few years later.

I’m not a massive fan of Blair but when he came in things really started changing tax credits was a game changer you bc did feel proud to be British Cool Britannia it was a good time looking back there was opportunity and hope

The idea of spin surfaced strongly with Blair

I see it as the party before the credit card bill comes in, which happened in 2008

He had some better points than current iteration (he knew he had to take everyone not just one layer of society) but I see a lot of it as we were all a bit on a high before the crash

Interesting that despite the 'knockers' the reality of most people's lives was that the Blair/Brown years were experienced as positive. We get so much negativity thrown at those years now, but I'd vote for either of them again in a heartbeat.

Major and Blair

@Lastnamedidntstick

I agree with you. Tony Blair was 150% spin. The policies he put in place have bankrupted the country today. Austerity was needed because he spent like a drunken sailor. There was literally nothing left when Brown left office.

Blair had fantastic PR. I remember when Princess Diana died and what he did to the monarchy was just awful. The only thing that should have been said was there is a grandmother who is tending to the needs of her grandsons who have just lost their mother. We kindly ask you give the family some grace at this difficult time. Instead his comments seemed to push the narrative that the royal family were not being respectful to her legacy. She was dead. It wasn’t about her anymore but about her sons who needed to be away from London.

It was under Blair that non-dom tax status was actively taken advantage of. London was affordable in 2000-2004 when I lived there but I saw the start of tax haven and how it was massively inflationary, pricing Middle class families out of London.

Thatcher transformed the UK. The trajectory the country was following was leading to disaster. Do I agree with all her policies, no, but I do believe she was doing what she thought was right for the country. That I can respect. On the world stage, she was excellent. Had the respect of the Russians.

Interesting so many saying Blair.

his government was the reason I left the NHS. It set up everything we see today.

closing wards and departments, PFI’s and “social enterprise”. I was sent on a course to learn how to essentially privatise our staff cohort and contract ourselves back to the NHS. All presented as power to the people but in reality privatisation, absolving the nhs of pension/sick/maternity responsibilities.

any department not actively making money was shut down, so a lot of preventative and cost reduction schemes went. Often sold to the private sector.

see also the “social enterprises” set up to run leisure centres. No effectively big corporations, who have managed many sports facilities into decline.

i don’t think I have any particular era where I was better off. Blair though for me was all fur coat and no knickers, looked great, felt great at the time, but all show.

Blair/Brown

Yes Blair/Brown here too.

Not saying the Iraq war was right, or that he didn't make colossal mistakes on that front.

But it doesn't negate the rest of what he did. And the OP asked who was PM during the best times for us - and no, I wasn't sent to war or know anyone who was, I didn't know anyone there, so while I can agree that it was an awful thing to happen, it doesn't mean that those years weren't generally good for me - good health care, education, hope for the future, UK seemed like a positive and forward looking place to be. Then it's all collapsed.

I worked for the Blair/Brown government. I genuinely think 85%+ of the MPs I encountered at that time were in it for the right reasons. I remember child tax credit being developed and
marvelling at how many people it was going to help.

Blair and Brown. Tories have decimated this country.

Blair definitely. I remember staying up to watch the election results roll in and celebrating.

Also this from the FT. Hospital waiting times…

Definitely Thatcher, her successive governments completely turned the country’s fortunes around for the better and paved the way for the Blair / Brown spending frenzy.

Blair/Brown - I had babies, complicated deliveries but my experience of NHS was very good. DD was diagnosed SN quickly and efficiently. Sure Start was a godsend. Bumpy financially by 2009 but at least health & education were working well.

By the time they went to school Cameron/Osborne had implemented austerity. Difficulties getting funding and treatment for DD and it's only got worse.

John Major - made fantastic interest on my savings allowing me to buy a house that doubled in value over two years. Miss those years!

Although I will add that it isn't really the government you choose that make a difference as much as where we are at in the economic cycle. The value of our money is much, much lower now and we may br entering a phase of severe tightening of credit. Our debt to GBP is 98% I think. All they can do is let inflation run for a bit and tax now, but I don't think they can lend as they did before as that would make things much worse. It is a balancing act and probably doomed to fail. I think a lot of the panto villain stuff is a bit of a facade as there is no fixing these economic problems.

Blair, I was a teenager so didn't have the adult worries I had now.

There didn't seem to be the worries people have now, or the worries people had under Thatcher. Tbf, I don't recall them under Major either

Blair without a shadow of a doubt. I earn more now than I ever have but have never felt so poor. The NHS and schools are completely broken now.