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AIBU?

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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:
middleager · 21/12/2020 21:32

Excellent post Sky

jasjas1973 · 21/12/2020 21:35

Tony Blair who fucked the Middle East and therefore all of us. There you go. Slainte 🍸

Blair did not fuck the ME....

Look at the facts, Bush Jnr wanted to put right (what he thought) was his fathers big mistake... to let Saddam remain in power.

Any UK PM would have backed Bush (as they always back the USA) the 2nd Gulf war was going to happen with or with out UK support, our military provided a tiny amount of the fire power used & though our political support was welcome, the US would have carried on regardless of any UN mandate.

Blair lied and misled the public & MPs but the catastrophe that is the middle east must lay at the door of the Americans & the British who let down the Palestinians both before and after WW2.

DDiva · 21/12/2020 21:42

Boris has had to deal with an un unprecedented situation and he was up for a tough job with brexit even before covid.

Boris has handled it appallingly but with similar advisors I wouldnt necessarily think anyone else would have done different.

Personally I would have preferred a more visable leader.

akerman · 21/12/2020 21:48

Would anyone else have awarded contracts worth billions to friends with absolutely no experience?

jasjas1973 · 21/12/2020 21:49

Brexit is Bojo's doing as well, he tossed a coin and it landed leave, could equally have been remain, he didn't care, he went leave because he thought that would get him into no10.

I judge him against the very best performing countries, we are one of the worlds leading economies, with decent military and still the 9th largest exporting nation.... so why are we comparing ourselves with Belgium or Spain and not Japan or Germany?

Brown would be my choice for PM to lead us through a Pandemic, he has the experience of F&M and the GFC.

MrsGEW1 · 21/12/2020 23:10

@Crankley

I can list the crap actions of Labour PMs that have damaged this country if you are interested? No, of course you aren't - Labour voters aren't interested in reality.
This!
Blacktothepink · 21/12/2020 23:15

Yanbu!

akerman · 21/12/2020 23:20

We know enough about Corbin to be confident that he wouldn’t have siphoned off billions to friends with no experience to produce PPE.

And I’ve never forgotten Corbyn’s warmth and compassion in the aftermath of Grenfell - that alone puts him a long way ahead of Johnson.

No, I don’t like Corbyn and I don’t think he’s a good leader, but only those willing to close their eyes to exactly what Johnson has been up to with PPE and Track and Trace would rank Johnson higher.

Countdowntonothing · 21/12/2020 23:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DecemberDiana · 21/12/2020 23:24

True, I couldn't believe it when Cameron walked.

Covidrelapse · 21/12/2020 23:25

I’m not a fan of Boris or his party. But I don’t know who would have dealt with it better. We still don’t know what the best response would have been, it will take many years to fully assess the impact. I do wish he’d shut the borders.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 21/12/2020 23:27

Theresa May was the worst at ‘being Prime Minister’.

Boris is a close second - though he also suffers from having a spectacularly bad Cabinet.

TheBuffster · 21/12/2020 23:39

Could we not keep calling him Boris like he's a favourite cuddly uncle. He handled this appalling. It's not vocation roulette eiher- he schemed and climbed to get the job. No one foisted the most important job in the country on him. I expect elected leaders to be held to the same standard that other public servants are held to. If a teacher lies, failed to meet targets, failed to protect the vulnerable or even to turn up to important meetings, they'd be sacked in a second. So sick of people bleating difficult circumstances, trying his best etc. He's not a child, he's the leader of the effing country.
So yes, worst in show.

Paintedmaypole · 21/12/2020 23:55

I didn't want Johnson to be PM. I didn't vote for his party but he is not the worse in living memory. I remember Thatcher. She may have got things done but they were bad things. She turned people more selfish and less co-operative. Everyone started to look out for themselves. Blair did some good things but his personality was very off putting. Cameron just walked off whistling after making a mess. Johnson is reacting to a difficult situation. There are problems with giving contracts to cronies and the use of private companies to provide services like track and trace when there are parts of the nhs with more experience but he is not the worst in my memory. Not great though but I don't know who would have dealt with this well. Had Corbyn been elected the media would have torn apart his every move so it would have been difficult for him to be effective from the start.

Impatiens · 21/12/2020 23:56

Boris is a close second - though he also suffers from having a spectacularly bad Cabinet.

Which he selected (by order of Cummings probably) for their unquestioning, unthinking loyalty to the Brexit project.

Peregrina · 22/12/2020 00:13

Boris is a close second - though he also suffers from having a spectacularly bad Cabinet.

Which he chose, having withdrawn the whip from many competent ones before the election. People like Rory Stewart, Justine Greening and Amber Rudd who were still young enough to give a good twenty years service to Parliament.

So if is Cabinet is spectacularly bad, he needs to ask himself why he appointed them.

akerman · 22/12/2020 00:54

I fear Johnson will stay to deliver the no-deal his backers want and then will do exactly what Cameron has done.

Neither of them deserve a single night of unbroken sleep for the rest of their wretched, self-serving,over-indulged lives.

MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously · 22/12/2020 08:22

Maybe we should have a law that says a PM must be elected by the people, not only their own party and cannot resign except in extreme personal circumstances (like a very bad health diagnosis or being widowed while on office). They are the choice of the electorate (and it often is a choice for a person as well as a party) and shouldn't be allowed to just swan off and dump responsibility onto someone else. It might go some way to stopping all the party infighting and attempts to topple the leader, if the replacement knew they couldn't take over as PM without public endorsement and would have to wait the full term between elections anyway.

MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously · 22/12/2020 08:25

Also we seem pathetically grateful if we are presented with a choice of candidates who are not entirely awful. It's time we demanded ones who are actually good, not just ones who are a bit less awful than the alternative.

DHdweller · 22/12/2020 08:26

Blair the worst for me

Peregrina · 22/12/2020 08:33

MrsHunt

You raise an interesting point there. I only found out the other day that when Churchill took over as PM at the beginning of the War, that he wasn't the Tory party leader.

Iamtooknackeredtorun · 22/12/2020 08:38

He is a PM for the good times. A libertarian at heart who wants to tell people to enjoy life and have fun. He's a broad brush let others do the detail PM. Being on top of his brief and taking unpopular decisions is not something he enjoys. All of this make him a poor leader in a time of national science-based crisis.

Everyone could see that mixing households for days over Christmas was utter folly. He knew it too. He just can't face being the bad guy.

Honestly he's just out of his depth. We knew 10 months ago that this would be huge. Why wasn't a national dept created (like DEXU) bringing scientists, economists, educators, public health experts together to devise and implement a national strategy? It ought properly to have been cross-party but even if just govt it would have had a comprehensive approach rather than this constant shift in priorities which has exacerbated the situation.

The failure of a comprehensive track and trace after so long is on him. Awarding contracts to friends and donors rather than people who can do the job at this moment in time is unconscionable. The PPE failure in the early days. The slow roll out of testing. Too late in a national lockdown. Too quick to come out of it. And finally the worst of it all - chronic underfunding of the NHS over a decade meaning that they were unable to cope. This all sit directly with central government and for the most part he's either been a key player or in charge the entire time.

He will be gone by March.

looseddaughter · 22/12/2020 09:04

I'm astounded that there is anyone left who supports him and can justify his actions over the last year. So depressing as I assume these people will vote Tory at the next election and so the country is doomed, completely doomed.

And all the people saying Labour governments have done worse then failing to come up with any examples except perhaps Iraq.

MimiDaisy11 · 22/12/2020 09:13

Boris is a close second - though he also suffers from having a spectacularly bad Cabinet.

That's what you get when you're the kind of leader who chooses loyalty over competence.

Peregrina · 22/12/2020 09:22

He is a PM for the good times.

Shame that's not an option. He should remember what McMillan said - Events , dear boy, events, and realise that he has to be PM for all times, and resign if he's not up to it.

He will be OK - he will swan off to the after dinner circuit and make more money than the PM's salary pays him.