When was the last time you felt the UK was in good hands?

[honeybeetheoneandonly]

I watched the debate yesterday and while I think one person would probably make better decisions for the general public than the other, I wouldn't entrust the country to either.
Looking across Lib Dem, Brexit party or Green there is nobody, I feel, who would make the country a better place.

This made me think, when was the last time you felt a government in charge made things significantly better and left the country better off than it was before?

Blair. Didn't even vote Labour. Voted Lib Dem. But felt much safer and more well off under Labour. Blair also had to deal with the Diana crisis. And did so very diplomatically. Sadly he will always be known now for the Iraq war. It wasn't neessarily his doing.

Same for Nick Clegg. Did so much to stop the Tory party from doing awful things. Introduced a lot of benefits, but hey he was part of the univeristy tuition thing. So all his fault.

Yet Boris is an absolute disgrace. Proved time and time again. But some folk will always follow the shit the Daily Mail feed them.

Sadly he will always be known now for the Iraq war. It wasn't neessarily his doing.

David Kelly would like a word, BBC becoming even more of a mouth piece of the current government would also like a word.

You may not agree with slippery slope arguments, thats why labours free broadband should be just taken at face value.

I agree honeyandspice

I'd probably say about 1950 under the Attlee government.

Anyone who says Thatcher must be on drugs!

It was the early Blair years. As a nurse it was wonderful to see our hospital finally have the money to invest in new equipment and more staff to bring down the waiting lists.

Anyone who says Thatcher must be on drugs!

You obviously lack any kind of critical thinking skills or political nuance.

This is not twitter where you are chasing likes, this is a forum that is trying to regain some semblance of nuance of discussion.

Blair in 1997. There was genuine optimism, pro-EU, GFA, Sure Start, employment support, Early Years, tax credits, NHS, Kosovo, lots of great social projects, teenage pregnancy services etc.

Not so great for the poor people in Iraq and I feel that was the beginning of ISIS, Syria etc.

He seemed to get the balance right between providing welfare without discouraging business or individual ambition. I haven’t seen a leader since (maybe Ed Miliband) who seems to have any sort of plan or vision beyond attacking the other party.

@ForalltheSaints it must have been amazing to go from possibly not affording healthcare to having a NHS.

I'm very grateful for it but I do take it for granted (in the sense that I've never known it not to be available).

That's what I mean by being in good hands.

(I don't know what a government could do now to make people feel really lucky and grateful to have.)

James 1st. He was actually fairly moderate and didn't persecute people for religion. (If you don't count witchcraft in that as he was a bit obsessed with catching witches).he avoided entering silly and expensive wars. And he knew how to paaaarty...also he United England and Scotland.
Ok so he was a bit of a spendthrift and was clearly cheating on his wife with his friend George but other than that...

David Kelly would like a word Agree Absolutely disgraceful
No doubt we'll find out in 100 years

I actually think the 2010 election was really exciting. Nick Clegg was an exciting prospect, politics did feel a bit different and all 3 of them seemed like potential, non-joke options. It felt like there were choices.

The hung parliament thing we hadn’t experienced in my lifetime before but I knew it was commonplace in Europe.

I think Nick Clegg did his best in difficult circumstances and really did moderate the Tories. You could definitely feel the difference when he stopped.

It really annoys and upsets me when people slate him because of tuition fees. He wasn’t actually in power and he was genuinely doing what he felt was was best for the country, despite it not being the best for him politically.

I don’t feel like any of the options in this election are reasonable. If labour under Ed Miliband was available I’d go for that absolutely!

Blair. It was good until the headlong dash up Dubya's arse and the Iraq War. Gordon Brown was a serious politician and since then it's been a succession of PR jobs.

Blair as far as personal recollection is concerned. Unfortunately now we all just think of the disaster of Iraq.

I wasn't born but I think Attlee (especially with the creation of the NHS) was bloody good. Macmillan was in charge during a very good time for the UK and masses of social housing was built when he was PM, despite him being a Tory. Of course the Tory party then was very different to what it is now.

A very different party Starbucks. It was paternalistic rather than the grasping capitalist machine it is now. Macmillan would be an oddity in today's Conservative Party.

Gordon Brown. But then I consider my politics to be centre-left and am strongly anti-Tory.

The Iraq War was a massive stinking turd , but otherwise most of Blair's policies were OK.

Tony. Good times for us under Tony. I think he had no choice but to kowtow to the US over the war. Just awful really.

Tony Blair.......tax credits and the introduction of the minimum wage hauled us out of poverty........later on sure start centres taught me to be a mum and supported my DC and I through their disabilities via the portage service. We were really lucky, I feel so sorry for families coming through the system now when early intervention is so important.

Shame he turned out to be a murderous bastard.

I think John Major was a very good prime minister

I will say this for John Major - he's been a voice of sanity throughout the Brexit fiasco.

1997. Lived under Thatcherism was horrid, austerity no better. Brexit will be worse again. This country sure does like inflicting pain on itself.

This thread is such a good example of why FPTP is such an awful system.

When Blair was elected until the Iraq war. He is is responsible for every consequence, including Trump and our current political wasteland.

I also liked Nick Clegg but the tuition fees did break the camels back. I don't think many Tory voters voted for Tory because of the tuition fees but many Lib Dem voters voted Lib Dem (possibly for the first time) because they didn't want the tuition fees. If there ever was need to say "David, I will support you where I can but this is a no deal" this was the time.

Should Lib Dem get a landslide victory in this election it will be because people are voting against Brexit. Imagine Jo Swinson then turning round and publicly supporting Brexit. It wouldn't matter much how well she did for the rest of term.

Even if the conservatives vow to put 350 million a week (? I can't remember what the buses said) in the NHS the rest of Brexit needs to be figured out over the coming years, so we are probably a couple of terms away from a government that makes you feel optimistic. A couple of years figuring the changes out then a couple of years for things to settle and become the norm, before hopefully seeing and feeling improvements.

I loved the pp who said because of something the government did they had a full fridge or managed to cope or generally just had their life improve.

Blair is the only one. He did a lot of good. Kids, families, especially poor ones, benefitted without ignoring everyone else.