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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:
looseddaughter · 23/12/2020 08:00

@MrsMiaWallis - why? Why post statements like that without giving any reasons? It's hardly convincing. What would Corbyn have done and what has Starmer done that was disappointing? I haven't agreed with everything he's said and done but I'd feel a lot better if he was in charge right now.

Isaidnomorecrisps · 23/12/2020 08:00

@ElephantWhaleRabbit

This - also dismantling checks on government (Supreme Court, weird nationalism where in fact those who voted for him will watch the money tree pay out to his friends not them)

I think he’s also a procrastinator, hopeless in a pandemic.

Worst of all PMs? Can’t judge that.

42isthemeaning · 23/12/2020 08:05

@ThePants999

My memory only goes as far back as Major, but Brown was terrible - fortunately we didn't have to endure him for long.
Why was Brown terrible?
Nobu · 23/12/2020 08:05

Previous PMs worked weekends.
Or at least worked

Dee1975 · 23/12/2020 08:09

I get a bit fed up with the government bashing on here. It’s like they blame boris for the virus in the first place. They blame boris for being on lockdown like there is no reason for it! Papers have even said in the past ‘our freedom has been taken away by the government’ ... errr no. It’s the virus that has taken it away ...
However, I don’t think he is learning from his mistakes which is his biggest failing. The government was slow to put us into lockdown in March. They were then shortsighted with the eat out to help out scheme and haven’t been quick enough to put us into lockdown again now, which is needed due to this new strain. We should all be on lockdown right now like some other countries. (Who don’t yet even know if they have the strain!). I think they are being short sighted in regards to the economy. It’s like they try and squeeze out a bit extra spending from us in the short term, but that will consequently lead to longer restrictions later down the line due to rising cases.

blinkboo · 23/12/2020 08:14

David Cameron

looseddaughter · 23/12/2020 08:18

Why was Brown terrible?

No point asking that - the Labour PM bashers just seem to say they were/would have been dire/terrible/shit and rarely see fit to give reasons, unless it's to do with the 3 day week which actually happened under a different PM from who the poster thought! Of course all PMs make mistakes and some have more difficult events to deal with than others, though all have their challenges. But this thread isn't called 'Are all other PMs perfect?', it's is Boris Johnson the worst, and I'd say he is, at least from the last century. Of course that's partly because the events he's having to deal with are particularly massive, but that doesn't let him off the hook, especially as one of them (Brexit) is largely of his own making as it currently stands.

I get a bit fed up with the government bashing on here. It’s like they blame boris for the virus in the first place

I haven't seen any complaints along those lines on this thread. People are bashing the government here for the reasons you set out in your second paragraph.

luckylavender · 23/12/2020 08:21

@Dee1975 - I 'government bash' because I expect so much more. I expect a PM who is all over the detail, who doesn't lie & overpromise, who doesn't throw money & peerages at his cronies & who turns up. Also when he does turn up, turns up on time.

MrsMiaWallis · 23/12/2020 08:24

[quote looseddaughter]@MrsMiaWallis - why? Why post statements like that without giving any reasons? It's hardly convincing. What would Corbyn have done and what has Starmer done that was disappointing? I haven't agreed with everything he's said and done but I'd feel a lot better if he was in charge right now.[/quote]
It doesn't have to be convincing. It's my opinion. I think JC and O Donnell would have been terrible. Rishi Sunak has been pretty good IMO.

I'm not ruling KS out completely yet

notafanoftheman · 23/12/2020 08:29

I don’t blame Boris for the virus. I do blame him and the stories for not having a decent pandemic plan when scientists have been warning of one for years.

looseddaughter · 23/12/2020 08:33

Well fair enough but it would be a bit of a boring thread if everyone just put 'he's great/shit...' etc.

Sunak has been very quiet lately hasn't he? Some of the policies he's implemented, like the furlough scheme, would have got a very different reception had it been Corbyn and McDonnell introducing them I feel. Don't think they would have been given affectionate epithets for wanting to pay people's wages somehow. I also read that the Eat out to help out scheme was pretty disastrous in terms of helping spread the virus and Sunak was very vocal about preventing another lockdown in the autumn when it became clear that the second wave was hitting hard. I'm not sure he's the compassionate Tory he was made out to be.

csigeek · 23/12/2020 08:34

I think it’s a bit of both to be honest.
Brexit and COVID are things we’ve never seen before so it would be unfair to say anyone could have done a better job because there is no real point of reference.
I think he would have been shitty anyway though, just not quite this bad!

MrsMiaWallis · 23/12/2020 08:35

I think JC and OD would have weaponised any furlough scheme to penalise businesses and the process to claim would have been tortuous.

notafanoftheman · 23/12/2020 08:45

Brexit and COVID are things we’ve never seen before so it would be unfair to say anyone could have done a better job because there is no real point of reference

Brexit is largely his own fault, so fuck him on that front. Covid: we have literally hundreds of points of reference as every other country is going through the same thing.

JinglingHellsBells · 23/12/2020 08:52

[quote luckylavender]@Dee1975 - I 'government bash' because I expect so much more. I expect a PM who is all over the detail, who doesn't lie & overpromise, who doesn't throw money & peerages at his cronies & who turns up. Also when he does turn up, turns up on time. [/quote]
I'm tired of seeing these comments about turning up on time.

Do you all not understand that behind those press announcements there is a whole team of both civil servants and other MPs? Any delay from them on stats could have delayed press conferences. It doesn't have to be the PM's fault.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 23/12/2020 09:03

No. All governments across the world will be juggling everything and with so much unknown it must be an awful job.

luckylavender · 23/12/2020 09:31

@MrsMiaWallis - who is O Donnell?!

Sozzler · 23/12/2020 09:31

Why do you think Rishi Sunak has been pretty good? Our economy has been one of the hardest hit of all major economies . He introduced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme which research has found helped spread the virus throughout the summer months and accelerated us towards a second wave. There have countless issues with the Furlough scheme. He has property worth millions, whilst his wife is a billionaire heiress (something he failed to declare as minister). However, despite being the richest person in the House of Commons, he has patronisingly told the public that it is their responsibility to go out and spend their savings in order to save the economy!

I am also very interested to know how you and so many other people on this thread think Jeremy Corbyn could possibly be any worse than Boris Johnson and the rest of his incompetent government. You all must either have crystal balls, be totally blind to the catastrophic mess this government has made responding to this pandemic, or are trying to convince yourselves that you were right to vote for someone as embarrassing and incompetent as Boris Johnson. At least if Jeremy Corbyn was in charge lives would have been put first, we would have someone who genuinely cared, we would have likely followed a zero covid strategy like New Zealand rather than a dangerous herd immunity strategy, the billions wasted on cronyism would have been spent on the public good rather than handed to the Conservatives mates, neighbours and donors for ineffective products and services and we would not be facing a catastrophic no deal Brexit at such a unprecedented time of crisis!

coldwaterfeed · 23/12/2020 09:31

Eat out to help out was a bad mistake by Rishi.

MrsMiaWallis · 23/12/2020 09:33

@coldwaterfeed

Eat out to help out was a bad mistake by Rishi.
Do the case rises prove this? I know where I live we had no huge spike in cases despite being a holiday area
Sozzler · 23/12/2020 09:34

@MrsMiaWallis My previous comment was a reply to you, for some reason the tag didn't show up

MrsMiaWallis · 23/12/2020 09:36

He has property worth millions, whilst his wife is a billionaire heiress so what?

luckylavender · 23/12/2020 09:36

@JinglingHellsBells - you missed my point about not turning up at all - all those Cobra meetings. The two week holiday in February. And yes I do expect him to turn up on time and respect his office & the people who put him there. He's wanted this job all his life. In the Private Sector he would be long gone. I'm ashamed that he's our Prime Minister. Look at some of the works headlines mocking us.

Sozzler · 23/12/2020 09:37

@MrsMiaWallis Here is a brief summary of one piece of research into the link between the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and a rise in covid cases.

warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/30-10-20-eat_out_to_help_out_scheme_drove_new_covid_19_infections_up_by_between_8_and_17_new_research_finds/

Basecamp65 · 23/12/2020 09:38

It is not fair to compare him to PM's of the past as they have not had to deal with this situation - BUT it is completely fair to compare him to the other couple of hundred heads of state across the world who are all in the same position

AIBU unreasonable in thinking Boris Johnson has handled the pandemic worse than any other head of government in the world? is a a fairer question

I suspect he has handled it one of the worse if i'm honest