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...

I can't believe the number of people saying Brown. He left the country in economic ruin!

No he didn’t. A global financial crisis did that. Wait until you see the results of Sunak’s spending spree.

I'm inclined to think Gordon Brown would have kept his calm and listened to the scientists. He never seemed worried about his public profile so I think he'd be more inclined to not worry about accepting help from experts in a crisis. Too many PMs seem to think that makes them seem weak rather than sensible for some reason.

Brown. He was sensible, calm, reasoned but decisive. He was also good at co-ordinating with global responses. He would also have understood that the economy wouldn't recover until people had faith in the government response so wouldn't have balanced the healthcare and economic needs much better than others.

would have balanced obviously

Mo Mowlam
John Smith
Rory Stewart (hmmm - maybe?)

Mrs Thatcher was a chemist: that would have helped. But she said: 'there is no such thing as society' and was ruthless so not so good.

John Major was also a hard worker and would have made tough decisions but didn't have his party behind him or any charisma.
(though BJ apparently has and look where that has got us)

Blair was too lightweight and a liar. BUT we'd still be in Europe at least

Gordon Brown would have had a good grasp of economics and was probably more humane. He also had a good work ethic.

Cameron would have run away.
May was indecisive.

Thatcher may have had a chemistry degree but she completely forgot about scientific method - specifically when the hypothesis doesn't fit the facts - junk the hypothesis not the facts.

She maintained monetarism long after it was evident it wasn't working and in fact damaging. No way could she be trusted to put science above the tory paymasters - remember she squandered the North Sea oil money and the proceeds of privatisation and house sales

The 'iron lady' fetishism hides just how awful a pm she was.

John Major or Tony Blair, or possibly James Callaghan (remember him?)

In 2007 when a foot-and-mouth crisis emerged, Gordon Brown cut short his holiday and came back to chair Cobra from the start.

Spot the difference?

And was intensely understanding of detail and process to get a grip

Spot the difference?

And AFAIK did not appear on mass media saying he wouldn't uphold regulations, and contradicting his government's stated policy.

I'm seeing a pattern here.

Boris Johnson