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...

Blair, although I hate to admit it. Brown and Major would have been half decent perhaps.

@Dragongirl10

I know she is not a UK Prime minister but,

Jacinda Arden, calm, no fuss, decisive...took the difficult choice of TOTALLY closing borders, as we should have done and has isolated any individuals with covid or suspected covid.

Just imagine if we had enforced total closure of our borders, the travel industry would have needed lots of funding but, most could have gone about their lives, schools unaffected, small businesses unaffected....
limited people quarantining.

If only we had taken this seriously in early Feb...like New Zealand.

One small problem with totally closing our border - we don’t produce enough food in this country to feed us all. True we wouldn’t have died of Covid but we might have starved

@PerditaNitt

Surprised to see so few votes for John Major. I think it would be a close call between Brown and Major for me, with May in third place. All would have worked hard (no skipping cobra meetings and half arsed prep for PMQs) and I don’t think any were so driven by ego that they would have ignored scientific advice.

A half competent cabinet would also help. God help us with Patel, Gove, Hancock and the rest of the muppets.

This in essence.

I didn't bother mentioning Cameron, because it's not possible to have Cameron as a prime minister during a crisis: he just collects the silver teaspoons and fucks off at the sight of a crisis on the horizon.

Johnson the same –except he doesn't even vacate the role and fucks off in situ, so to speak.

Most of the current cabinet are unspeakable – worse even than Johnson – so I'm not going to torture myself considering them.

Blair.

Thatcher had no problem with hanging entire sectors of the community out to dry to suit her ideology. Why anyone thinks she'd have preserved low paid jobs through furlough is beyond me.
I was going to say Blair because he was the most 'in control' PM we've had since Thatcher but after a bit more thinking, Brown might have been better with the economics and less influenced by big business.

One small problem with totally closing our border - we don't produce enough food in this country to feed us all
NZ didn't quite totally close their borders. They're still receiving freight. With proper quarantine where necessary. We could and should've done the same.

I know standards are low after experiencing George Osborne but really Gordon Brown a shrewd economist???
The NHS is in such a bad way partly because of his disastrous PFI. As for selling off our gold at a knocked down price...

Anyone but Blair.

Blair. Or Brown. Both good leaders with scruples and decisive. I do think May wouldn’t have been bad either. I have no words for what I think of the current post holder, or at least none I can repeat in polite company.

I'd take any of them over the current shower.

But Brown handled Swine Flu well, and in line with the precautionary principle. No way would we still be struggling without an adequate Test & Trace system on his watch.

Major or Blair as runners up.

John Smith, the best PM we never had.

Brown

Pretty disappointed with the Maggie love in though . Strong =/= good and a degree in chemistry does not make an expert in infectious diseases.

Id go Margaret Thatcher or John Major. Then Theresa May or Gordon Brown.

Margaret Thatcher most definitely

@VinylDetective, thanks, my thoughts too.

Mrs May was not given a chance because she was a woman, not young, and not a 'personality'.

Do those saying Thatcher remember the Thatcher years?

Tony Blair

Another vote for Thatcher. She was more excited about being the first scientist in office than the first woman. Then Blair, because I trust him.

Yes or John Major.

My yes was not to thatcher - sorry. My two choices are Blair or Major:

Just to answer PP, I grew up in Sheffield during the miner's strike with a father who was an ex miner and a mother who was a firm Thatcherite. So I saw it all - and firmly grew to hate Socialism, and still do. The miners have been very skillful at re-writing history IMO, and although Thatcher wasn't perfect, she was what we needed at the time. God knows where we'd be if Scargill had won.

May then Thatcher.

Blair / Brown / Major

@ssd

I'm shocked at the support for Thatcher here. I didn't realise mn was so right wing.

Same. She would just have let the vulnerable die.

Blair.

May struggled to bring the rest of her party/ cabinet with her, and we could do with a team effort at the top!

@Leafyhouse I agree - the miners have been very good at re-writing history.

It's very simplistic to say Thatcher would be a great leader in this pandemic though - she was PM at a time when the world was a different place - I can't think she would have the tolerance for general non compliance in this country. We're a nation who just can't do as we're asked to.

Another one staggered at the support for Thatcher.

She would have been rubbing her hands with glee at a virus doing her dirty work for her. She was an exceptionally heartless and cruel PM.