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Seven PMs in 10 years, what's gone wrong with the UK?

192 replies

supercrone · 16/07/2026 10:45

As an outsider, it's kind of fascinating to watch. The PMs span both parties, so you can't really blame one party or another. What's the problem guys?

OP posts:
placemats · 16/07/2026 12:49

Jk987 · 16/07/2026 11:46

I love how people say ‘Brexit’ with no explanation as to what they think is the link between that and the high turnover of PMs.

David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson (who failed to get the job done re Brexit and COVID).

paddleboardingmum · 16/07/2026 12:51

Brexit

Eyesopenwideawake · 16/07/2026 12:52

The cult of personality. Started with Maggie.

No one gives a shit whether the PM is effective or not, they just want a pantomime character to cheer or boo.

Interested in this thread?

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Victorius19 · 16/07/2026 12:55

Because the majority of MP's couldn't run a business if their lives depended on it. And Government IS a business. There is a budget, departments, and growing millions of end users. Add to that the country is starting to feel like a dumping ground for the 3rd world, it's little wonder that people are pissed off and want someone to blame.

Overthecherry · 16/07/2026 12:56

HotinJapantonight · 16/07/2026 12:20

Which Brits are those then. Not the ones on social media then and not the ones who are happy to blame everyone bar themselves.

You literally prove my point.

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 12:56

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 12:38

There are plenty of people in the UK who would make excellent politicians but would never consider the job for all kinds of reasons. The likes of Starmer and Reeves are hardly 'intelligent' so there's plenty of room for improvement!

KS and RR aren’t intelligent? wtf? 🤣 they are by any measure. Who do you think is an example of intelligence?

btw it goes without saying the public haven’t got rid of any PMs. The churn of PMs isn’t related to their quality, it’s related to their own parties ousting them because they don’t represent their party interests or ambitions.

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 12:57

Victorius19 · 16/07/2026 12:55

Because the majority of MP's couldn't run a business if their lives depended on it. And Government IS a business. There is a budget, departments, and growing millions of end users. Add to that the country is starting to feel like a dumping ground for the 3rd world, it's little wonder that people are pissed off and want someone to blame.

the government is not a business. Demonstrated by the fact that if it was, it wouldn’t exist.

you can’t have someone who doesn’t understand this running the country

IWantADateToGetJobDone · 16/07/2026 12:58

IWantADateToGetJobDone · 16/07/2026 12:49

It's a mixture of things.

PM's who want to be popular and keep their jobs and so don't make the hard decisions that the country needs (or tries to but then reverses them at the outcry)

A lack of hope for youngsters because house prices are so high compared to average wages. Combined with ease of claiming benefits and lack of jobs (no growth). Leading to a huge amount of youngsters not working, not learning social skills and locked in their bedrooms on the internet.

Economic doom loop. We have little growth due to policies of high tax to try to cover high spending. This in turn is demanding more borrowing each month and thus spending increases the next month as more interest to pay. We need lower taxes to encourage work and investment in the UK. We need a huge reform of welfare to decrease the cost and encourage people to work.

People in general are angry at certain topics. Immigration is out of control whether it's legal or illegal. The country is bursting at the seams. Roads are too busy. Houses are built close together so everyone has more noise to endure. Wages are static and costs going up. People see lots of people getting benefits while they work for a living and feel angry and resentful. They see immigrants getting houses while they are stuck renting. They is a huge feeling of injustice leading to demonstrations and unrest.

Lack of law and order. No enough frontline police (hard to say whether it's because they are all in back office jobs or the police force just needs more hard cash). Lots of crimes not being dealt with now - shoplifting and antisocial behaviour. Even when caught the penalties are so low that they don't care. Front line police quitting in droves due to difficult jobs, violence from public and they are hamstrung over politically correct policies they have to adhere to. Combined with low pay for the stress and danger they face police have had to lower their standards for recruiting. Jails are full it seems and due to funds we can't afford to build more. We need much stricter law and order and higher penalties/sentencing. If we can't afford more prisons then we should just go back to putting more prisoners into each cell. Too many rights for criminals.

Our healthcare system is not coping with the high population, high demands and ever continuing new medication/treatments available thus increasing costs. No politician wants to tackle the sacred cow of the NHS even though it needs reformed. This would be a huge job and would lead to lots of public outcry. By the same token lots of people do recognise the nhs is needing reformed and are sick of being on waiting lists, struggling to get a GP appointment. We seem to bring in doctors from abroad while our own trained doctors have no work. People abuse the NHS leading to missed appointments. Lots of inefficiency in such a big system.

School and Education - we made all the youngsters go to uni so we now have a glut of useless degrees. Meanwhile we have hardly any tradesman. Every 2nd kid seems to be disabled/extra needs now. Not sure why - ultra processed food, social media, woman having babies older? Teachers can't cope with all the extra needs. Huge costs to send these children to special schools with little return to the economy for the cost. These children often on benefits for life. Difficult decisions needed re how much we should spend on this area given the lack of return financially and the country's financial mess. No-one prepared to have a sensible discussion on the topics (see mumsnets continuing cries of the disabled being left in the gutter or sent to the workhouse). Care in the community costs a fortune and does not work.

Older population means more costs to NHS, higher pensions as they are claimed longer. Huge social care costs as people are kept alive for long times with little quality of life. Going around in circles over assisted dying rules as nobody wants to be responsible for killing 'the grannies'

We sold off all our industries for short term cash which has now run out so no cash and no industries. Thus we lack employment plus overpay for services such as energy. We sold off parts of the NHS to PFI giving cash in short term but now costing more longer term. We sold off our council houses cheaply to give everyone a roof over their head but having done that are still responsible for housing everyone with kids and so pay high rents to private landlords. Crazy policies that benefited us in the short term, gave us a cash boost. Now however all the chickens are coming home to roost.

In short we need some very tough decisions to be made that are stuck to and not reversed. We need lots of tough police to deal with any outcry. We need lower taxes to encourage growth and work and investment. We need bare bones welfare so everyone works. We need to reform the NHS and make it co-pay. We need to accept disabled children cost alot and return nothing and deal with accordingly. We need to scrap the triple lock and increase the pension age. We need to stop treating people with certain diseases over a certain age and put them to sleep with kindness and compassion. We need to decrease out debt to lower the interest bill. We need to show the bond markets we know how to make tough decisions so they charge us less interest as we return the UK to financial viability. We need to visibly deport people and adhere to strict policies about who gets in.

In short we need tough, brutal decisions where everybody has to be more accountable for themselves. We need to accept there is going to be a period of hardship and change. We need to have PM's who are smart and tough and don't give a shit about being popular. We need to stop giving 'rights' and 'entitlements' to so many people at the cost of the taxpayer. We need to return respect and manners and make hard work pay. We need to see crimes dealth with promptly and properly.

I predict the next PM will tinker about the edges more and everything will continue in the same pattern. He will get voted out. It will continue until something drastic happens - the bond markets force the issue or the IMF have to take over. We also have changing world order and the threat of an overinflated stock market with the AI bubble. Both these factors may speed up the 'big bang' in the UK.

I didn't mention brexit because it's so difficult to quantify it's impact. I think it has lead to lots of resentment because things we were told would happen did not happen. So we feel lied to in some respects. Rest of Europe not doing great either so don't think we can blame brexit and nothing else.

MyDailyCake · 16/07/2026 12:58

People have no patience for a prime minister working to change things gradually. The next PM will be bullied out before long, just like all the other recent ones have been.

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 13:00

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 12:56

KS and RR aren’t intelligent? wtf? 🤣 they are by any measure. Who do you think is an example of intelligence?

btw it goes without saying the public haven’t got rid of any PMs. The churn of PMs isn’t related to their quality, it’s related to their own parties ousting them because they don’t represent their party interests or ambitions.

Someone capable of strategic thinking with a sharp analytical mind. Those people are few and far between and are highly in demand so would never consider politics.

If you don't believe the public 'got rid' of Keir Starmer, you are extremely naive.

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 13:01

MyDailyCake · 16/07/2026 12:58

People have no patience for a prime minister working to change things gradually. The next PM will be bullied out before long, just like all the other recent ones have been.

Starmer was got rid of because he was useless, weak and spineless.

Patrickpickthepepper · 16/07/2026 13:02

supercrone · 16/07/2026 11:12

This seems accurate to me. Complex long term problems require complex long-term solutions but "the people" expect instant results. By the people I mean the media especially social media

I don’t even think it’s the people - who the hell wanted that many Tory prime ministers or for Keir to be out so soon? I certainly didn’t - it’s the bloody media who whip it all up into a frenzy and just don’t let go and the parties that are arrogant enough to ignore what the general public want and put their own agendas first.

Morepositivemum · 16/07/2026 13:03

Irish here but found it sad hearing of Keir Starmer go, a lot of people say he’s very much a ‘doer’ but a bad speaker, and the online assholes with their constant judgement drove him out.

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 13:03

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 13:00

Someone capable of strategic thinking with a sharp analytical mind. Those people are few and far between and are highly in demand so would never consider politics.

If you don't believe the public 'got rid' of Keir Starmer, you are extremely naive.

How would you be able to judge whether a politician is “capable of strategic thinking with a sharp analytical mind” ?

I’m surprised, that’s pretty pedestrian stuff. I thought you were thinking of something exceptional

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 13:07

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 13:03

How would you be able to judge whether a politician is “capable of strategic thinking with a sharp analytical mind” ?

I’m surprised, that’s pretty pedestrian stuff. I thought you were thinking of something exceptional

Well not making the catastrophic mess that Labour has made would be a start -mediocrity at it's best. Strategic thinking from anyone in the Labour cabinet would be pretty exceptional. 😂

Backedoffhackedoff · 16/07/2026 13:08

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 13:07

Well not making the catastrophic mess that Labour has made would be a start -mediocrity at it's best. Strategic thinking from anyone in the Labour cabinet would be pretty exceptional. 😂

I don’t believe you know what strategic thinking is

WonderWeeksArentReal · 16/07/2026 13:11

Career politicians who haven't had a job in the 'real world' before becoming an MP. They are all in it for themselves these days, hence all the backstabbing within each party and constant leadership challenges.

DuchessedOrleans · 16/07/2026 13:11

Brexit. It made the country poorer economically and socially, increased immigration to much higher levels and gave the media/sm a taste for drama and the clicks/money it generates.

TeaWithASplashOfMilkPlease · 16/07/2026 13:12

pointythings · 16/07/2026 11:36

An electorate of petulant 'I want it now!' toddlers, abetted and indulged by a media in the pockets of bad actors.

This is the perfect, succinct version of the answer.

Turkeys voting for Christmas. People have become so stupid and self obsessed that there doesn’t seem to be any idea of society any more, so everyone wants everything arranged exactly to suit them and their circumstances, all the time, without any cost to themselves.

tigger1001 · 16/07/2026 13:14

IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth · 16/07/2026 11:19

  1. Brexit
  2. Social media

Added to that are increasingly ridiculous expectations that things can be improved overnight. A country is like an huge oil tanker - it takes a while after turning the rudder for the ship to have visibly changed course and even after you've turned the rudder, there's stuff you can't control that can bugger it up.

I agree.

would add that the mp's seem power hungry and rather than unite behind the pm, they all seem to sense blood in the water and use it to further their own careers, rather than what's best for the country.

BangBangBangBangBang · 16/07/2026 13:14

As series of absolutely crackers decisions post-GFC that stifled growth and opportunity- austerity + Brexit.

The fact that all MPs know Brexit was a mistake but cannot say so. Even those who support it ideologically are aware that it has damaged and continues to damage us economically.

Tensions between what we need to do for the environment (net zero) and what we need for growth (cheap energy)

Social media

HRTQueen · 16/07/2026 13:15

Social media now controls politics

and tech companies are very happy with this

its created a very toxic environment

TeaWithASplashOfMilkPlease · 16/07/2026 13:15

Dragonscaledaisy · 16/07/2026 13:01

Starmer was got rid of because he was useless, weak and spineless.

He stood up to Trump and refused to take us into a war in Iraq. Not spineless. And if you look at the list of things which have improved under Labour, not useless either. But many people (and you may well be one) refuse to look at the things which have changed already, in two years. I’m not going to do lists as it’s all been covered here and in other places before and I’m tired of people being influenced by social media and bad actors and refusing to take notice of facts.

HotinJapantonight · 16/07/2026 13:17

Overthecherry · 16/07/2026 12:56

You literally prove my point.

You prove nothing, literally or otherwise.

Overthecherry · 16/07/2026 13:20

HotinJapantonight · 16/07/2026 13:17

You prove nothing, literally or otherwise.

Ha ha. Mad skills, dude. Anyway, let’s not full up the thread with drivel, eh?

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