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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:
ProfessionalWeirdo · 21/12/2020 14:21

David Cameron has much to answer for...

ThePants999 · 21/12/2020 14:22

My memory only goes as far back as Major, but Brown was terrible - fortunately we didn't have to endure him for long.

snookercue · 21/12/2020 14:24

I don't think it matters that we don't know how other leaders would have dealt with it. We don't actually need Boris V Tony, Boris v Thatcher etc, to know that Boris is shit at his job. He hasn't just been shit re Covid he has been shit re everything he has done. He can't make a decision, when he is backed into a corner and finally makes one he can't stick to it. He can't even string a sentence together without sounding like a toddler. He absolutely is the worst in terms of ability.

DameFanny · 21/12/2020 14:24

@JustCallMeGriffin

Plus, covid aside you have to remember he wanted to be the PM to lead the UK out of the EU and is doing a spectacularly bad job given that we actually exit the union in 11 days and there still isn't a clear indication of what businesses will have to deal with, let alone individuals. He definitely is not a victim of circumstance!
This.

Also - how much did his whitewashing of Dominic Cummings' flagrant behaviour contribute to people losing faith in the restrictions?

And how many other Cabinets would have passed billions to companies not fit for purpose for non-existent PPE or failed Test and Trace?

Nobody asked for a pandemic, but he hasn't demonstrated any leadership in dealing with it.

ThePants999 · 21/12/2020 14:25

Boris has a unique achievement among terrible leaders - he managed to hurt the country more in his quest for power than he has done since getting it. So far, anyway.

MylittleLovebug · 21/12/2020 14:26

Oh give it a rest

Callipygion · 21/12/2020 14:27

We've just spent 5 years at war with each other, devalued the £ by 20%, savaged our economy, quit the world's largest free trade zone, created a mountain of red tape & flushed £200bn down the drain to 'control our borders'. 6 EU states just did it in 24 hours with a press release

Taken from Twitter. All hail the mighty Boris.

lockeddownandcrazy · 21/12/2020 14:32

He has been terrible, but we can never say how others would have done as they didnt have to deal with it. Teresa May would probably have been worse

Chloemol · 21/12/2020 14:32

Nope

I will never forgive Tony Blair for lying and getting our soldiers killed

I will never forgive Gordon Brown for driving the country into the ground and selling off all our gold so cheaply

I will never forgive David Cameron for getting into bed with the Libdems, or for not getting concessions out of the EU then throwing his toys out of the pram with the country voted for Brexit

The Govt are doing the best they can in an ever moving and changing pandemic. I suggest people start looking at what leaders in other countries are also doing, it’s more or less the same

TheFrogsNeedFeeding · 21/12/2020 14:33

Truly honestly, I really don't like Boris Johnston, for lots of reasons,I certainly would have picked others to be prime minister over him and I don't think he has handled the pandemic well at all. However I don't think you can say he is the worst prime minister because these circumstances are so unprecedented, you cant judge.

nosswith · 21/12/2020 14:38

I disagree OP. Can you tell me of any example of a worse Prime Minister ever in this country? I can only think possibly of Lord North.

Michael Gove would have acted sooner if he were PM, so would Jeremy Hunt, to give two examples of Tories who would have done better.

BarkHoneyBark · 21/12/2020 14:40

@Aprilx

No PM during my lifetime has had to deal with what BJ has had to deal with, so I don’t think I could make a fair comparison.
But so much of what he is dealing with is of entirely his own making. He isn't making decisions - he's balled up brexit.... The guy is totally unsuited to the job. And his cabinet are awful.
RedToothBrush · 21/12/2020 14:41

@Aprilx

No PM during my lifetime has had to deal with what BJ has had to deal with, so I don’t think I could make a fair comparison.
No other PM has had to fix the messes created by their own incompetence to the same extent in my lifetime...

A lot of it is a mess of his own making.

Barmyfarmy · 21/12/2020 14:42

I despise Boris, I think he's a vile man and his politics are laughable.

But. No one is trained to deal with a pandemic or brexit. No one can do Brexit perfectly because the political state of every country involved in brexit isn't equal. It would've gone wrong if anyone handled either situation. I have no sympathy for him as he signed up for Brexit and he can't even do that. But I understand why it's gone so wrong.

He could've and should've dealt with Covid much better, there's no doubt. Australia and New Zealand are proof that it can be done with minimal fatalities. The government should've done more to protect the country, not just rich tories, from Covid.

SarahShamsa · 21/12/2020 14:43

I'm no BJ fan but he's a human like anyone else and is not infallible. This crisis would have been incredibly difficult for anybody to manage and I highly doubt anyone else could do a better job. A population of over 60 million people is hard to manage when it comes to an invisible virus that we know so little about still. We also can't compare his leadership to other countries, like NZ. Two different countries with massively different population sizes.

CoRhona · 21/12/2020 14:44

You should have enabled voting!

YANBU

I have run out of swear words for how utterly incompetent he is 🤬

Batmanandbobbin · 21/12/2020 14:47

I’m with @MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously and I’m not a Tory supported at all!

MrsMiaWallis · 21/12/2020 14:47

@Aprilx

No PM during my lifetime has had to deal with what BJ has had to deal with, so I don’t think I could make a fair comparison.
This.
whenwillthemadnessend · 21/12/2020 14:48

No. I dread to think how Corbyn Would have handled this

It's a shit show yes but every country is having a shit show

The govt have made mistakes yes totally

But it's a virus that spreads with no symptoms so how is it every going to be possible to contain it realistically

The only way would have been to shut all borders in jan but then we would have been screaming over reaction

However I will say the senior schools should have been treated like the unis and got testing in when they went back in sept. Now it's too late 🐎 bolted

namechangedtoaskaQ · 21/12/2020 14:48

I loath Boris, but he's been handed a shitty turn, so it's not really comparable. I loath Sturgeon too, but also can't compare her to other leaders due to Covid!

SkySports · 21/12/2020 14:48

Maggie was the worst ever.

Greed is good remember.

Privatise everything - all of the previously privatised industries cost a huge amount more than they ever did.

Vile in how she looked at the poor/the miners/ etc vile person.

willsantausesantatize · 21/12/2020 14:49

@Pukkatea

The last time I remember a PM having to deal with multiple crises was Gordon Brown, who within a year had the return of foot and mouth, mass flooding and the global financial collapse. Labour were subsequently voted out and are still today blamed for the finances in this country when they've been out of power for over a decade and they've gotten worse and worse.

Whereas now everyone is falling over themselves to excuse the tories for things that are absolutely their own fault. The double standards are astounding.

I agree. I think that Mrs Thatcher would have dealt with a pandemic a lot better as she had a science background. I'm not a Tory ; I have never voted for them but I do feel that this year would have pushed anyone in power to it's limits. I do think that Corbyn might have brought in UBI or something similar but I'm convinced they would have struggled with the planning and general logistics of dealing with this as it's so unpredictable and unprecedented. Labour getting the blame for things that went on ten years ago isn't great but then I still blame the tories for things that happened years ago too. Politics does become tit for tat .
rollinggreenhills · 21/12/2020 14:49

@Aprilx

No PM during my lifetime has had to deal with what BJ has had to deal with, so I don’t think I could make a fair comparison.
^ This. We have no way of knowing how anyone else would have dealt with it, had they been PM. Just imagine what May or Corbyn would have been like.
LazyName · 21/12/2020 14:51

The man has to deal with a pandemic where half the public MOAN they aren’t given enough freebies and don’t follow the rules and advice in order to help the situation then blame him for ‘making it worse’ AND Brexit at the same time, along with the usual issues a PM has to deal with.
People who complain about him need to give their heads a wobble. Not sure there would be anyone who could handle this much better.

waydownwego · 21/12/2020 14:51

I think he's the worst.

The others had their flaws, but I would have expected them to turn up to meetings this year, back before Covid was a full-blown pandemic. Just, you know, turning up to the job would have been a massive improvement.

Some other PMs might have been more cutthroat - good, we'd have had lockdowns sooner, stricter, and we'd have got a handle on this.

Some might have been kinder - good, we'd have abandoned this herd mentality rubbish.

Boris has just been nothing and done nothing. Sometimes, as PM, the worst thing you can do is to make no decision at all.

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