Who was the last government you were happy with?

[WhiteTilesWhiteGrout]

Following on from another thread, it seems that whenever it comes to UK parties, nobody is ever happy. Even those who are siding with - say - the Tories or Labour, are not very happy with them.

So if the party you are planning to vote for in the next elections wins, will you actually be happy with what they'll do? When was the last time you were happy with the party in power?

Because it seems that no matter who's running the country, people are never happy.

Defo Tony. Great years. So many fantastic domestic policies.

This.
It really felt like something good was happening.
For a while.

1997 Labour - I voted for it. Real sense of optimism at the time.

Ditto.

It was relatively easy for Tone with loads of money swishing about.

The mark of a truly good leader is what they do during a depression. While I disagree with many of Thatcher's decisions around manufacturing (and I think, with hindsight, so would she), she brought the UK out of an economic slump. Tony Blair didn't do that. He didn't need to.

There is a reason why Blair ended up at the very top of the "100 worst Britons" programme, in the early 2000s. (Those on the list had to be living, and not in prison.)

Remember that his government that introduced university tuition fees, as the very first thing they did. It's true that some other government might have done the same thing, but it cemented for me the proof of "now the general election is over, we can do as we like", just after he had been promising total fairness, and the moon on a stick.

Truss. I don't think she got chance to show us the light.

Thatcher

I think a fair bit of that was just relief that the Tories had finally been punted into the ether.

New Labour was a complete and utter let-down, took cronyism to a new level, and somehow managed to accelerate the growth of an already cavernous poverty-gap, but I think they also benefitted a bit from the same phenomenon that Starmer is currently, i.e. they appeared somewhat more attractive than they really should have been simply because they weren't the incumbent corpse of a government going through the motions.

I'm 99.9% convinced that this incoming Labour lot will ultimately be every bit as underwhelming as the '97 brand, but I'll still take them every day of the week over the verminous Tory criminal cartel.

Tony Blair was great until he wasn't.
I loved the sense of optimism and positivity that things could change.

He ruined it for himself and us in the end.

I see two issues here.

One is when was there last a government whose policies/philosophy you like

The other is when was there last a Government who were administratively competent. And despite the previous posters praising the optimism of Blair, that was the administration that stopped caring about administrative competency and thoroughness, and instead started winging it (introducing measures that were basically illegal, like control orders, so they could be seen to be doing something and leaving it to the courts to overrule. It should never have been like that).

The last administratively competent Government was I think that under John Major

I think I've been mostly fine with the Government from 1997 (my first election) until 2015. Its when the Tories stopped having the moderating influence of the lib dems that it all went to shit (plus Brexit). I'd take any of those governments over todays shit show.

Yeah, Blair’s first. It just felt hopeful.

Agree until Iraq, which tarnished Blair for me.

Everything about the man was fake. An object lesson in style over substance and electability over conviction. Everything was spin and focus-groups, and I consider New Labour ultimately responsible for precipitating the deterioration of UK politics into the utter sewer it is in 2024.

It's why I despise Blair with a venom that I can't even muster for Thatcher, and believe me, I hate Thatcher. I did have some respect for old Socialist Labour when they actually stood for something and had convictions roughly aligned with the working people they claimed to represent. Blair and New Labour were class traitors who chucked every single worthwhile thing the party stood for into the bin, purely for the sake of getting elected and having his own personal moment in the sun, then did practically nothing worthwhile with three thumping majorities.

And then there's the whole illegal war and hundreds of thousands dead thing...

Blair, until he got the God complex, and lied to justify his illegal war.

I was (still am) deeply anti war. And despite a deep long held cynicism about politicians generally I never imagined a serving prime minister would go on national TV to lie through their teeth in order to send people to their deaths.

If you want a watershed moment in UK politics, that was it. It's a shame that the Tories took it as a challenge to best rather than something to consign to infamy.

However it doesn't detract from 1997-2001 before that.

Margaret Thatcher.. Best PM ever..
Most intelligent.

Yes, New Labour's recurring inability to actually govern and enact law despite having whacking great majorities really sums up the style over substance nature of that project.

Complete blithering incompetence, and no ability to actually politic.

The ripples of that cursed war will affect us for decades to come. It was a fatal misjudgment to put it mildly. Plus I’ve never forgotten David Kelly.

Ghastly woman. But she had some purpose. At least she followed science and logic so the UKs AIDs programme was world leading and the EEC got kicked into the 20th century.

The Blair government of 97 with Brown as Chancellor. I’d just left university and there was such a sense a sense of hope plus they seemed to have the country’s best interests at heart and a sense of responsibility. Such a shame Blair wrecked it all by going religious nutter over Iraq.

Tony Blair & Gordon Brown

Nobody is happy with governments for very long.

If you read some very old mumsnet threads from the run up to the election Gordon Brown lost it wasn't that dissimilar on here just with the parties switched.

A bit less angry because public services weren't as bad as now but the financial crisis of 200 7-8 was recent history which created a global recession. Cameron, like Starmer, wasn't widely loved but many people seemed to think it was time for a change.

Come election time Labour will most likely win and we'll start the cycle again.

This is what comes up time and again , hope and where has it gone .
There was so much hope then , I had young children then and there was so much hope and excitement for the future , where has it gone ?

Blair when he was fresh faced and new, before he turned into Jack Nicholson in the shining.
I felt hope then , pretty short lived looking back.
Nothing on this earth would make me vote tory but i really don't know who i'll vote for this time.