Worst in Living Memory?

[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?

He will be gone by March.

I hope so.

I assume anyone saying he's thick has also managed to get into both Eton and Oxford (or similar) on a scholarship? There's a reason why that's hard.
Anyone saying he's lazy should check out the link helpfully posted upthread by KennDodd.

Before Eton he attended a boarding school which costs close to £30,000 a year. I mean what child has that spent on their education? I imagine such an education makes it a bit easier to get into Eton. I don't think he's thick. There are just different ways to be intelligent. Excelling in Ancient Greek and Latin doesn't mean you're going to have the skills to be a good prime minister.

His ex-colleagues and bosses call him lazy and they've personally worked with him. And they work for publications which are right wing. And as PM he's known as not caring for details and missing important meetings.

Thatcher was the worst, the vindictive cow.
Blair was a lying, warmongering bastard who put education on a business footing and ruined it.
Quite liked John Major, although he was a big blue underpant-wearing hypocrite, as it turned out.
Gordon Brown seemed fairly boring and harmless.

They’re all a shower of shite these days, politicians, aren’t they?

Gordon Brown sold off our gold reserves and fucked with the pensions iirc. Not quite harmless

He's pretty hopeless - but as PP have said, the thought of Thatcher being at the helm during the pandemic is absolutely terrifying.

Thatcher being at the helm during a pandemic? Well, as one of the architects of the Single Market, she wouldn't have let Brexit get into the mess it's in - probably gone for a quick EEA type arrangement and been done with it. Then she would only have had one crisis to deal with. She would also have listened to the science, with a scientific background herself.

To be fair Boris has listened the science. Too bloody much. Should also have listened to the economists

I think Johnson has only listened to the science when it suited him and has cherry picked which bits of the science he wants to follow.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Gordon Brown sold off our gold reserves and fucked with the pensions iirc. Not quite harmless

Oh yeah, I forgot about the gold.

Fuck him as well, then.

@Peregrina

Thatcher being at the helm during a pandemic? Well, as one of the architects of the Single Market, she wouldn't have let Brexit get into the mess it's in - probably gone for a quick EEA type arrangement and been done with it. Then she would only have had one crisis to deal with. She would also have listened to the science, with a scientific background herself.

Absolutely. Nobody could have detested her more than me but even I can see that, of all the many PMs of my life time, she’s the one who’d have handled this the best.

Listened to the science?
Pull the other one. He shakes hands with covid patients and pushes through a 5 day Christmas truce. That's two forehead slapping moments straightaway.

I too loathed Thatcher but unlike Johnson, she wasn't worried about being popular. I doubt whether we would have had the silly soundbites either.

Thatcher was ruthless - I don't think even her worse enemies could say otherwise. I suspect she would have put the ERG in their place and gone for an extension if a deal had not been struck by now. I also think she would have locked down sooner and got the other devolved nations on-board for an agreed rule-set, so there was no confusion or argument about the restrictions.

Brown selling off the gold is always quoted as being a terrible thing but the amount he may have lost by selling when he did pales into complete insignificance when you consider the cost of a no deal Brexit which Johnson looks to be happy to inflict on us. That's going to result in real hardship for millions of people but he doesn't give a shit as his mates will get rich from it. How many people suffered because of the gold? The only time it's ever mentioned is in debates like this one and the fact that it's the worst thing people can dredge up about Brown shows how good he actually was. Can anyone quoting it as an example of horrific prime ministerial behaviour actually explain why it was such a bad thing and what impact it had on the country? It was reassuring when Brown was in charge at the time of the crash in 2008 and his decisive action was widely credited with preventing a major catastrophe. Yes he wasn't always the strongest PM but when crisis hit he rose to the occasion. Who has ever felt reassured by the smirking, stuttering bag of shit we currently have in charge? Did anyone here defending him see him laughing at the presser yesterday? Despicable human being.

@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.

Seconded.

He is a wealthy socialist wanker - but he does have some morals.

@TheABC

Thatcher was ruthless - I don't think even her worse enemies could say otherwise. I suspect she would have put the ERG in their place and gone for an extension if a deal had not been struck by now. I also think she would have locked down sooner and got the other devolved nations on-board for an agreed rule-set, so there was no confusion or argument about the restrictions.

I hated Thatcher.

Really, really, HATED Thatcher - but credit where it's due - she was able to take charge and to make decisions.

loose selling the gold is bad because it is the single asset which the whole world recognises as valuable and has always recognised as being so. Selling the gold to invest in other assets is risky, since those other assets won't have the longevity of gold. It's a country's security and iirc protects the value of the currency.

the fact that it's the worst thing people can dredge up about Brown shows how good he actually was.

No. The worst thing it's possible to dredge up about Brown was that he sold out to Blair to win votes.

Blair was re-elected twice. Even after the Iraq war protests, the one time I voted Tory because I'd have voted for the devil rather than have him back in power.

Brown could have been good. But as his premiership was only three years long and people were uttering the words 'lame duck' from the point of Blair's resignation, the country never got to find out.

The smirking stuttering bag of shit
Alas and alack(🤭) I do declare you have summed him up

@Staffy1

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.

I really don't think that he can claim any credit for dealing with Brexit, given that he was a very substantial cause of the problem in the first place. And we have the evidence of virtually every other Western country (bar the US) that it's perfectly possible to do a better job with Covid.

I know none of this could be imagined etc etc but the man's completely incapable of making a firm decision. Changing the rules from a promised 4 days to 1 day only less than a week before Christmas was jaw droppingly stupid.

@WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo

I know none of this could be imagined etc etc but the man's completely incapable of making a firm decision. Changing the rules from a promised 4 days to 1 day only less than a week before Christmas was jaw droppingly stupid.

If I was a cynical person I'd say it was deliberate to make people buy presents on the high street...

When Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, could you have thought of more than 1 or 2 other Tories who could have done a better job than her? Whether you liked their policies, you realised the ability of most of the cabinet.

Whereas with Mr Johnson , there are dozens if not hundreds of Tory MPs who could do a better job, except almost all are not in the cabinet.

Heseltine, Ken Clarke? I can't think of many beyond that though.

Not sure that there are dozens of Tory MPs who could do a better job, but there are certainly some.