Page 3 | Who was PM during the best of times for you?

verdantverdure · 2023-03-29T21:44:26+00:00

Me? Blair. Brown, first bit of Cameron. On paper I earn more money now but everything's tits up isn't it? From the economy to shit on beaches to being able to get access to the NHS when needed.

PupInAPram · 20/06/2024 20:50

Yep, that 'no money left' note was a jokey tradition left by every outgoing government, but that is conveniently forgotten by the tories.

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verdantverdure · 20/06/2024 17:59

Crikeyalmighty · 20/06/2024 10:27

For me it has to be Tony Blair -one of my favourite things ever was him ripping one to Farage - if anyone says it what about Iraq- yep, not great but was approved by the house- it wasn't a unilateral decision and the people that we should all be angry with were the intelligence services - no one goes on and on about Libya etc.

Blair got that it was important to govern for 'all' - I know many Tory's too who would say Blair was a good leader -

“But Iraq” has almost become a slogan certain types have trained their supporters to repeat. Like “Project Fear” Or the “there’s no money” note.

No one with even a cursory nodding acquaintance with the facts can do it in good faith but not everyone operates in good faith.

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Crikeyalmighty · 20/06/2024 10:27

For me it has to be Tony Blair -one of my favourite things ever was him ripping one to Farage - if anyone says it what about Iraq- yep, not great but was approved by the house- it wasn't a unilateral decision and the people that we should all be angry with were the intelligence services - no one goes on and on about Libya etc.

Blair got that it was important to govern for 'all' - I know many Tory's too who would say Blair was a good leader -

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verdantverdure · 20/06/2024 01:20

BrigadierEtienneGerard · 19/06/2024 21:58

Callaghan. Who was PM was irrelevant. I was young and had cash in my pocket for the first time. Bandit Heeler could have been PM for all I cared.

When I was young and had money for the first time John Major was PM.

I didn’t choose him though. I chose Blair, Brown, and the Coalition part of Cameron.

We earn more money than ever now but I’m not choosing Sunak.

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JLou08 · 19/06/2024 22:12

Tony Blair, amazing services for children in them days.

BrigadierEtienneGerard · 19/06/2024 21:58

Callaghan. Who was PM was irrelevant. I was young and had cash in my pocket for the first time. Bandit Heeler could have been PM for all I cared.

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verdantverdure · 19/06/2024 21:52

I am tempted to say Rishi Sunak because I am enjoying the Tory election campaign enormously. The sheep! 😁

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verdantverdure · 19/02/2024 18:07

beguilingeyes · 23/11/2023 12:58

With yesterday's budget doubling down on Austerity and threatening to take benefits away if people don't do what they're told is chilling. They've obviously decided to make up for the lack of EU labour by bullying the disabled.

Nah, I think they just do that for fun.

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beguilingeyes · 23/11/2023 12:58

With yesterday's budget doubling down on Austerity and threatening to take benefits away if people don't do what they're told is chilling. They've obviously decided to make up for the lack of EU labour by bullying the disabled.

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verdantverdure · 23/11/2023 12:32

Just popping this here for a bit of economic context.

Who was PM during the best of times for you?

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verdantverdure · 14/11/2023 20:18

chariotspades · 04/11/2023 21:15

Cameron

It's nice that he's back in Government then.

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chariotspades · 04/11/2023 21:15

Cameron

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verdantverdure · 04/11/2023 17:29

boismint · 10/10/2023 22:42

People saying Brown clearly didn’t have much to worry about during the financial crash! That’s quite telling.

for me it’s Blair, or the early coalition.

The only real "event" I remember about Brown is Swine Flu.

We worried, but were not hugely affected by 2008. We had jobs and mortgages but from our perspective the country sailed through it fairly unscathed.

It wasn't like it is now where you can't get tomatoes some weeks, electricity is so expensive the government had to subsidise everybody £66 a month, insurances have all gone up 40%, this weeks shop costs a tenner more than last week, and the Tories have put £500 on your monthly mortgage payment.

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verdantverdure · 11/10/2023 05:00

Yeah, same @PixiePirate. Just pondering.

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89redballoons · 10/10/2023 23:06

The PM during the best time in my life was Brown and then the coalition. However I was a student/young graduate and I was pretty isolated from what was going on economically and politically.

I graduated a couple of years after the global financial crisis and yes, it was pretty hard to find a decent job but I didn't have anything to compare it with. I also didn't have many responsibilities, no mortgage, no kids, no firm career plan really, so I just rented somewhere pretty cheap with a friend and dossed around in call centre jobs and bar work for a few years. It was fun and it was possible to support yourself as a young person doing that at the time, and still have a bit of time and money left over for having fun.

The effects of austerity hadn't started to filter through yet, the Brexit referendum wasn't a serious idea, and I had a general sense that things were a bit shit but would probably get better. Although maybe that was just general youthful optimism.

I was 10 years old for Blair's 1997 victory and I can still remember the optimism and celebration in the air that day, at least where I was, in a city that never voted Tory. My parents were actually jubilant. I think the period from then to 9/11 and the aftermath might have been the best years of their lives in terms of politics, but I was too young to understand.

boismint · 10/10/2023 22:42

People saying Brown clearly didn’t have much to worry about during the financial crash! That’s quite telling.

for me it’s Blair, or the early coalition.

FrankieStein403 · 10/10/2023 22:40

Blair/Brown
(Re Iraq - Blair set the precedent of Parliament voting on going to war - that's why Cameron couldn't follow the US into Syria - he lost the vote.)

Right to buy was bad but made infinitely worse because councils were explicitly forbidden from using the money to replace the housing stock - deliberately destroying social housing.

Not only did Thatcher privatise basic infrastructure for a song she also burnt the north sea oil monies - if we'd done as the Norwegians and set up a wealth fund we'd be sitting pretty today.

Sunak 'salting the earth' re selling the land to stop hs2 being resurrected is just following standard Tory practice - Major's rail privatisation chopped the industry into fragments with no other purpose than to make nationalisation impractical.

The Tories self proclaimed fiscal rectitude has always been baloney - they're the ones that gave us monetarism, the ERM, austerity - anything but Keynes.

PixiePirate · 10/10/2023 21:49

verdantverdure · 10/10/2023 11:17

I wonder if people foresaw at the time the medium and long term consequences of all the country's "silver" she sold off to pay for it?

Unaffordable rents and the massive housing benefit bill are because we don't have enough affordable housing and/or wages are too low. And Maggie Thatcher sold off the council houses didn't she?

By the bye, other countries owning our water, our railways, our electricity etc always seems like a national security risk to me. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid.

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I was answering the question asked by the op, not passing judgement on the wider impact. I don’t disagree with you.

HappiestSleeping · 10/10/2023 12:21

verdantverdure · 10/10/2023 11:17

I wonder if people foresaw at the time the medium and long term consequences of all the country's "silver" she sold off to pay for it?

Unaffordable rents and the massive housing benefit bill are because we don't have enough affordable housing and/or wages are too low. And Maggie Thatcher sold off the council houses didn't she?

By the bye, other countries owning our water, our railways, our electricity etc always seems like a national security risk to me. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid.

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Brown did the same with gold reserves. Blair continued to sell off council houses.

Whilst I think selling off public utilities was a bad idea for many reasons, I think any government would have had to have done something similar as they had no money. It was either that or raise taxes, and the only party that was ever honest enough about that was Paddy Pantsdown and the Lib Dems. Needless to say it didn't win him the election, but at least he was honest about needing the money and where it would go.

Perhaps we should have a thread about what PMs do you think had the UK's best interests at heart? That would rule out Blair / Johnson / Truss / Sunak straight away. Putting aside policies, I think Thatcher did, Major, Brown, and probably May.

It's such a shame that the labour party chose the wrong Milliband brother in 2010.

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verdantverdure · 10/10/2023 11:17

PixiePirate · 09/10/2023 18:34

As an adult, Tony Blair. At the time it really felt like New Labour reinvigorated the country and the world felt full of possibilities.

I can’t deny though that as a child, Margaret Thatcher’s government gave my parents/our family a leg up that my parents embraced and that drastically improved our futures. 100% realise that this wasn’t the case for everyone though, and that there was a lot of misery and suffering experienced during that time.

I wonder if people foresaw at the time the medium and long term consequences of all the country's "silver" she sold off to pay for it?

Unaffordable rents and the massive housing benefit bill are because we don't have enough affordable housing and/or wages are too low. And Maggie Thatcher sold off the council houses didn't she?

By the bye, other countries owning our water, our railways, our electricity etc always seems like a national security risk to me. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid.

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Original poster

verdantverdure · 10/10/2023 11:03

Whatafustercluck · 10/10/2023 09:36

Tony Blair. I became 'of age' to vote in 1997. People on the left slate centrist leaders, but the reason they get into power and get important stuff done is because most voters are natural centrists and a centrist government has a mandate from the electorate which tends to stay in place for long enough to make big change. Even if it comes at a sacrifice of 'ideals'.

That bodes well for Starmer then, doesn't it?

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Whatafustercluck · 10/10/2023 09:36

Tony Blair. I became 'of age' to vote in 1997. People on the left slate centrist leaders, but the reason they get into power and get important stuff done is because most voters are natural centrists and a centrist government has a mandate from the electorate which tends to stay in place for long enough to make big change. Even if it comes at a sacrifice of 'ideals'.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 10/10/2023 09:30

beguilingeyes · 10/10/2023 00:06

Reluctantly I have to say Thatcher. I thought she was the Antichrist, but I was in my late teens/20s and life was wonderful.

So was l. My life was crap. Lived in the north, youth unemployment.

Says it all really.

beguilingeyes · 10/10/2023 00:06

Reluctantly I have to say Thatcher. I thought she was the Antichrist, but I was in my late teens/20s and life was wonderful.

HappiestSleeping · 09/10/2023 20:02

Howpo · 09/10/2023 19:07

Blair was found not to have lied by the inquiry and in anycase, whilst i agree the war destabilised the region, Bush/USA was going to get rid of Saddam regardless, the war was baked in.

But Cameron et al getting rid of Ghaddafi was equally a disastrous war, the people coming across the Med now are as a direct result of no stability in Libya.

Funny how tory supporters so enraged by migration never mention this war!

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Not sure that Cameron made the millions via investments in oil that Blair did. Just as shit though.