Which prime minister would you want in charge at the moment?

[Xuli]

You can chose any PM from recent memory, say about the 1979s.

After a convo with DH this morning we agreed that Blair might have managed this crisis the best, not that it's probably a great bunch to choose from...

Would be very happy with Gordon Brown as Chancellor and First Minister for Scotland. If that means Blair for PM, I can live with it.

Not really a fan on New Labour , but I believe Gordon Brown to be a man of great intellect and even better, real integrity.

I don't think anyone could have made and improvement to be honest. I don't think it's been handled particularly well but I don't think anyone else would have done differently. The rest of Europe is in a similar position from what I've seen. Then again I'm keeping away from the news cause it's not good for my anxiety.

Thatcher, she couldn't have been that bad

She was

[quote ChaChaCha2012]@Dee1975 Are you aware of how she treated the working classes? We'd have seen as many deaths under Thatcher, but she wouldn't have cared as they were people she saw as wholly disposable.[/quote]
I don't think that's true (and I am far from a Mrs. T fan).

One thing she would have done is listened to the science without trying to nobble it.

We know this, because AIDS happened on her watch - and terrified the nation. And the advice we was give was blunt: Raise awareness of the risks from all sexual activity - and advertise condoms on TV.

Advice she really did not like. But followed. Thus making the UK a world leader in rapidly controlling the spread of AIDS and an example to the rest of the world.

Something to remember next time some cockwomble tries to tell you how well Boris is doing.

As an old gimmer, I lived through the winter of discontent AND was a one in ten during Thatcher. Neither were much fun tbh!

DGR see my post above.

She absolutely tried to nobble the science when it suited her.

1. Blair
2. Brown
3. Cameron

Blair, Brown or Major,

I think the problem with May would be that the rest of her party would be scrambling to undermine her.

I think Major, Blair or Brown.

Covid aside, I would trust them to manage the Brexit shit show better than the dangerous buffoon in office.

@TressiliansStone

DGR see my post above.

She absolutely tried to nobble the science when it suited her.

Well luckily for us she believed it on AIDS. At the time there was a great pressure to simply shrug shoulders and call it the "gay plague" - especially from nutjob loonytunes religious fundamentalists. She could have succumbed to that, but didn't - which meant standing up to some real gammons. Something I admit she excelled at.

Like I said, definitely not a fan, but credit where it's due - she was more of a man than Boris could ever be.

And even if the UK doesn't see it that way, the rest of the world does - the UK led the way on AIDS. Who can forget Princess Di smashing the prejudices ?

Anyway, no amount of nitpicking over the faults of former premiers is really going to change the fact that even if you were to add up the faults of Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May you still wouldn't be able to match the staggering truckload of incompetence that is Boris. It would be akin to trying to compare that time Dad ran out of fuel going on holiday once to the entire clusterfuck that took the Titanic down. It can be done if you choose your scale correctly to make an hour walk the same as 1,500 deaths.

How anyone could suggest Blair or Brown is beyond me.

Oh I agree completely, DGR.

It does rather amuse me all the votes for Theresa May. I said at the time when Boris got voted in, that people would realise she wasn't that bad.

Anyhoo I would go for Major, or Gordon Brown. May at a push.

Brown. Dogged, not populist. Good balance of fiscal and social accumen. We could have come off far worse in the 2008-10 crash than we did without him taking decisive action that wasn't far different to Rishi's. While we could argue his role as Chancellor in the preceding years, it was a global crash and he was not responsible for similar processes occuring through the world's major economies.

May, I'd give the benefit of the doubt. Strong willed and determined again which was her demise with Brexit as her path pleased neither side. I think this situation would suit her better. She has integrity, and while I don't necessarily agree with her politics, I can respect her. Has a strong work ethic and is a committed politician rather than driven entirely by ego and status.

Blair, generally competant but possibly swayable by populism. Happy to throw money at social problems.

Major not sure. Another awkward second (+) term prime minister who succeded as much by undesirable opposition as their merits. Did survive a recession cycle and left the country on a secure footing in 1997. Tends to speak good reason when he does pop out of the woodwork.

Thatcher, strong, decisive... depends on the outcome you want... prepared to take harsh decisions for long term gains to the majority. Prioritises the economy. Was clearly prepared to implement the pain of cutting off heavy industries/ mining with limited futures in a global economy (and I have worked in those communities where the effects are still felt decades later) however, I'm not sure if that would transfer to letting long term viable industries collapse due to temporary impediments. Was also behind initiatives such as Enterprise Zones that repurposed areas such as the Docklands with new service/financial industries. Again while economically for the greater good, gentrification marginalised and drove out established communities. While she would want vulnerable sectors to survive, I'm not sure that she would support at an individual social level to get through this and would be more inclined to put in investment at the tail end to support business restarting.

David Cameron. Definitely bottom of the list. Unleashed the hell of Brexit and ran. Austerity. Neither brilliant in economy, socially, or integrity.

The country was really quite stable under Major and he played a big part in the Good Friday Agreement. Despite being a Tory, compared to Bojo and his gang, Major was far more centre/left as a Tory and PM.

He was known for being a bit grey and boring (thanks Spitting Image) so people tend to forget about him. He instilled calm and confidence though.

@Tallpaulwho

It does rather amuse me all the votes for Theresa May. I said at the time when Boris got voted in, that people would realise she wasn't that bad.

Anyhoo I would go for Major, or Gordon Brown. May at a push.

Holding onto nurse for fear of finding something worse ?

Gordon Brown. With Thatcher and Churchill (the ghost of.. 😉) as strong minded advisers.

Absolutely not Blair or Cameron. They were / are, imo, just out for themselves.

But I'd keep Boris... For the evening entertainment. 🤣

Votes for Theresa May make sense to me. She'd certainly be better than Boris (mind you, my pet cat would be better than Boris).

May was a details woman and very hard working by all accounts. What she wasn't, was a great strategic thinker. Unfortunately (thanks in part to Cameron jumping ship having deliberately made no preparations or contingency plans for what would happen if he lost the referendum), Brexit was precisely the sort of situation which needed a phenomenally good strategic thinker.

However, handling a pandemic is (of its nature) reactive rather than proactive (much as it pains me to lapse into management speech). I think she would have been good at that level of detail. I'm not sure her authoritarian streak would have played out well, though.

Thatcher for infection control and draconian restrictions. There’d be no furlough though. The unemployed would be eating their own wallpaper under her.

Blair maybe I guess, I was a teen when he was in so I can’t really remember.

I always liked John Major because he came from a circus family.

The only one who would've stopped Covid spreading here - therefore negating the need for furlough, etc, is Thatcher.

I don't believe any of the others would've had the common sense or foresight or strength of character to have closed the borders. Thatcher would've used our island advantage - like NZ and Australia have done.

Gordon Brown?! The NHS struggling to cope now is in large part down to his brainless and very expensive PFI. It's crippled the NHS. And who sells off their best assets at a knocked down price??

And actually it was the Blair/Brown governments who fucked over the vulnerable - with their attacks on the disabled.

Housing and the mines? When Blair got in it wasn't too late to reverse the decisions. Lots of council housing had yet to be sold off. What did Blair do? He kept right to buy AND heavily pushed buy to let. Things could only get worse.

The mines. Why didn't Blair reopen them? At that point it wouldn't have been that costly.

Mistaken decisions are one thing. Failing to rectify them once the mistake is apparent is quite another.

And...the votes are in?

Tally at this stage reveals

1st Blair
2nd brown
3rd thatcher
4th May
5th Major

Special mention to jacinda Ardem who places 6th but is ineligible

Nicola sturgeon 4 votes
John smith ditto with 2 votes

1 vote each merkel, corbyn, Johnson, Cameron, arttlee and miliband

@Xuli

There's two criteria for what we want in a PM at the moment, though, and I don't think anyone fits both.

Thatcher would probably be best at the pandemic - strong decisions, unpopular decisions, closing borders early etc, she'd keep the numbers low

But she wouldn't manage the unemployment and the recession well afterwards in terms of looking after people, in which case a Blair or a Brown would be better

For all of these reasons I would go Thatcher as PM with Brown as Chancellor!

When exactly could Thatcher have closed the border to stop Covid getting in, given it was here before the news even started reporting the outbreak in China?

She had firmness but not second sight!

It was here but in small and manageable numbers in January. A small fire is easier to put out than a large out of control one.
A very short lockdown could've been implemented if necessary. Certainly by March we would've been back to normal albeit with temporarily restricted travel.