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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Worst in Living Memory?

641 replies

ElephantWhaleRabbit · 21/12/2020 13:45

Maybe it’s because we’re all caught up in everything right now, but AIBU to think Boris Johnson the worst Prime Minister in living memory? I mean, which of the former PMs, wouldn’t you swap in for him? Or is he just a victim of a bad set of circumstances?

OP posts:
Yohoheaveho · 21/12/2020 17:49

I had a lot of very intelligent people tell me that BoJo plays the buffoon but has clear strategy behind the facade
a clear strategy to take the piss and keep his wealthy mates sweet

OhWhyNot · 21/12/2020 17:49

No I think it is Margaret Thatcher (but not everything she did was awful)

No I do not think Boris Johnson has been a good PM but this situation we are in I am not sure any PM would not come under immense criticism (it’s not just here in the UK that people are critical of how the government has managed this situation)

I wish he would stop with the promise from Spring life will look much different that is not what experts are saying

lyinginthegutterstaringatstars · 21/12/2020 17:52

'The worst PM in history' is said about every PM . I don't like
him, he's not up to the job , completely out of his depth and it's obvs having a big toll on his health. He looks rough as guts.

I do think that Theresa got out just in time, she was actually very lucky.

Eastie77 · 21/12/2020 17:52

I don't know if Boris is the worst or not but I'm glad Jeremy is not the PM during this crisis. And I say this as a life long Labour supporter.

CaptainSandy · 21/12/2020 17:55

Gordon Brown worse than Johnson?! Brown is a moral and intellectual giant in comparison.

Tonightstheteriyakichicken · 21/12/2020 17:55

David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.

OhWhyNot · 21/12/2020 17:59

Yes I agree Boris Johnson does manage to pull off going back on his word

I think he always tries to present himself as being extremely positive over positive and it’s something many people obviously like about him

Yes an election anytime soon he would easily win Keir Starmer hasn’t had the platform And he isn’t coming across As impressive as I hoped

delightfuldaisy19 · 21/12/2020 17:59

@safariboot

I think Thatcher still did more damage.

Some of the 50s and 60s Labour PMs were pretty rubbish weren't they? Which is why Thatcher and Major were in power for so long.

Labour were not in power in the 50s, well apart from 50-51 and that was the end the Attlee government who founded the NHS and the welfare state.

Wilson's 64-70 Labour government ended capital punishment and decriminalised homosexuality and abortion.

They were a bit shite in the 70s - but so was Heath's Tory Party.

If you are going to use history to justify your argument - please get it right.

VinylDetective · 21/12/2020 17:59

Churchill was PM when I was born in the early 1950s so I’ve got a fair selection to choose from. I can’t remember a worse one. Thatcher was absolutely appalling but she’d have done brilliantly in the current circumstances. Johnson is completely out of his depth, if only he’d get rid of his useless cabinet, promote the tiny proportion of intelligent MPs he’s got left and listen to them. He won’t though, he loves his nodding dogs.

willsantausesantatize · 21/12/2020 18:00

@Eastie77

I don't know if Boris is the worst or not but I'm glad Jeremy is not the PM during this crisis. And I say this as a life long Labour supporter.
Me too. The Tory press would have pulled him and the Labour Party apart at every little thing. I m not a conservative by the way.
Piglet89 · 21/12/2020 18:03

The issues are:

  1. These are unprecedented circumstances, leading to the greatest restrictions on citizens’ freedom in the lifetime of most of us; and
  2. Johnson is a fucking shit PM, who’d struggle to project manage his way out of a Boots prescription bag.

Don’t allow the former to excuse the latter.

Brighterthansunflowers · 21/12/2020 18:09

YANBU

I didn’t like any of the Tory prime ministers but at least they came across as slightly more competent

I’m sure any PM would’ve made mistakes handling the pandemic. But a better PM might inspire a little more confidence and not rush to defend his little mates who blatantly broke lockdown rules just because it suited them.

But I blame Boris and his cronies for brexit, which is compounding an already shit situation.

AuntyPasta · 21/12/2020 18:09

David Cameron is worse. He’s the reason we have food banks. He’s the reason we had a Brexit vote. Then he pissed off back to the private sector.

PicsInRed · 21/12/2020 18:13

@ElephantWhaleRabbit

Maybe it’s because we’re all caught up in everything right now, but AIBU to think Boris Johnson the worst Prime Minister in living memory? I mean, which of the former PMs, wouldn’t you swap in for him? Or is he just a victim of a bad set of circumstances?
Tony Blair who fucked the Middle East and therefore all of us. There you go. Slainte. 🍸
ekidmxcl · 21/12/2020 18:13

PMs have different shit to deal with.

However, Brexit is a shit storm entirely of BJ's making. He made a big song and dance about the reveal of which side he was on, did the whole bus thing promising £££££££££ to the NHS. David Cameron was PM at the time and clearly told the public that he wanted to remain. He was most likely coerced into holding the referendum by dogs in his own party.

Re Covid, yes a lot has been handled very badly. But, most of that is now done and not un-doable. However, the vaccination program is so disgracefully slow. Clunky and stupid. Not enough people have been vaccinated. He needs to fucking wake up and sort this out. People making GP surgery appointments is TOO SLOW. Get vaccine freezer trucks in large car parks. Vaccinate people in their cars. Whatever, just FUCKING GET IT DONE. The speeds feels a bit like a conveyencing transaction or an NHS waiting list. COME ON!!

ItsCovidOutThereThisChristmas · 21/12/2020 18:15

YABU. Whatever your politics he has had to deal with unprecedented circumstances

Sertchgi123 · 21/12/2020 18:18

@akerman

I can't see Corbyn handing out billions of pounds in contracts to his mates for PPE, somehow. I think Corbyn would have listened to the science, and we might have had a fighting chance at having a reasonable Track and Trace system.

Nor do i think that Corbyn would have charged at the most destructive form of Brexit.

And, to tell you the truth, I can barely stand Corbyn. I think he is vain, selfish and just generally rather crap. But he is leagues better than Johnson.

In reality, you have absolutely no idea what Corbyn would have been like in these circumstances.
Orf1abc · 21/12/2020 18:19

Whatever your politics he has had to deal with unprecedented circumstances

And he has dealt with them hideously badly.

ivykaty44 · 21/12/2020 18:20

When you have a catalogue of MPs giving rather lucrative business to thwier pals and nothing is done to reprimand them or stop them from this terrible nepotism and leave the public at risk time and agin due to this, it shows an uncaring PM

Add to that the blatant way that Brois shook hands with patients who already had cover and then surpriseingly got it himself at a time that the country needed strong leadership was unforgivable. His ministers seem to break the laws and again stay in their jobs regardless

Trying to get everyone out eating and having fun to keep the economy going then realise that this was increasing the R level

Not locking down fro a short time in October but instead reacting to events rather than forward planning circuit breakers

Boris the bungler who has blood on his hands

Looking around the world there are many leaders that have worked hard to keep their countries safe under the same circumstances and not failed like Boris

LEAIssues · 21/12/2020 18:22

Have not read the whole thread but people keep saying that no other leaders have had to face a pandemic and we don't know who could have done better...

Look at other countires - Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, South Korea. They all had effective track and trace system.

Look at Singapore, with a population density 30x that of the UK, who copied the UK's pandemic preparedness plan (the plan the UK didn't use) and so far has only 29 deaths.

480Widdio · 21/12/2020 18:24

I have lived through many Prime Ministers.The one I loathed and detested the most was Tony Blair,he should have been locked up for the rest of his life for what he did.Evil personified.

I don’t like Boris,but he is doing the best he can in horrific circumstances.

middleager · 21/12/2020 18:25

I think it was the Marcus Rashford having to step in to feed hungry kids that finally sealed the deal.

I grew up in the Thatcher (milk snatcher) yet still, I am Inclined to agree with you OP.

CantBeAssed · 21/12/2020 18:26

Whatever Boris does, hes dammed if he does and dammed if he doesnt..but really he deserves a break....what a shit heap hes been given to sort!

Peregrina · 21/12/2020 18:41

No, he hasn't been 'given' a shit heap to sort. He chose to be PM - he was more than happy to stab May in the back. His Brexit Deal/No Deal is 100% his own fault. Dealing with Covid - he didn't forsee but back in January when China was reporting problems he was more bothered about Bongs for Brexit.

Staffy1 · 21/12/2020 18:43

I don't think he's the worst by any means. He had a difficult enough job with brexit, never mind covid added in for good measure. Can't see any of the others having done a better job.

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