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?

Trouble is Labour is FUBAR. It can’t decide if it wants to be a more competent and slightly less vindictive version of the Tories (Starmerism) or a party in favour of radical social change which puts the breaks on extreme inequality (Corbyn). It needs both of these factions to win, but uniting both seems fairly hopeless. The British/Tory/Establishment press is giving Sir Starmer an incredibly easy ride - compared to Corbyn - because he doesn’t directly threaten their multi-billionaire owners long term financial interests as Corbyn did .... but he STILL can’t overtake them in the polls because he has lost as many “radical” Labour voters as those he’s picked up elsewhere.

We got a vaccine, our NHS has so far not collapsed, schools have been open from September onwards and the average age of death with covid is 82. We haven't had bodies piling up in the streets, care homes haven't been abandoned like in Italy I think it was, qnd though we are restricted it hasn't been as bad as france etc so less impact on mental health

Err Germany got the vaccine we are now using.
The avg death with CV is around 80 across the globe.
We have the highest excess deaths in europe and per capita top ten world wide.
We opened schools with no mitigation for CV.
The NHS stopped almost all routine treatments during the first lockdown and now has 12 to 18month waiting lists, i doubt that does much for MH!
People died alone in CH's & the community, something to be ashamed of.

Boris is a too much of a people pleaser to be any sort of leader IMO. I can't think of a worse PM - but then again I can't really think of a far better one either. I really hope he's out in the next election though, he takes cronyism to an extreme even for a Tory government.

I’ll vote Starmer in 2025 to give the vulnerable in society a 5 year reprieve from the horrible Tories, and skyrocketing inequality and falling living standards, declining schools, NHS, food banks, closing libraries, childcare services, selling off green space, etc, etc but I’m under no illusion. The next Tory government in 2030 would just pick up where Starmer left off. Nothing will change.

@Tal45 Four years is too long, another Tory would be far better, I want him out now.

His approach is more blustering than vindictive.

I am not so sure whether this is true. His blustering could be seen as covering up his ability to lie easier than breathing and his libertarian ideology that led to nailing his colours to the Brexit mast.

He’s either massively incompetent for not extending transition in July, or just doesn’t care, either way he’s unfit to govern. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that no deal fresh food and medicine shortages, plus uptick in COVID due to winter and other seasonal pressures like flooding all at the same time would be disastrous.

Theresa May did not agree with the recent restrictions, wonder if OP would have preferred her?

Or Corbyn who said he would not comply if asked to stay home?

i feel sorry for Boris to be honest having to deal with it all. After being severely ill with it as well

Margaret Thatcher was a scientist, and very tough. Faced with covid, she would have been well briefed and informed . I'd lay odds she would have closed borders right at the outset . When Cummings flouted the rules she'd have sacked him on the spot. I detested the woman but she was far more decisive and effective than that slack oaf Boris.

No I don't think he's the worst, that would be Tony Blair, IMO. And I voted fkr him.
I'm going to withhold judgement on Boris Johnson, see what happens after the covid crisis is over. I can't really get excited over brexit either way.

I would rather have had Tony Blair pre-Iraq war than Boris any day of the week, in fact, it was Tony's ability to negotiate and bond with other leaders that led to the whole illegal war issue to some extent. Tony Blair's copybook is so blotted no-one can look at it now without feeling angry, but him and Gordon were between them much better managers and would have (IMO) handled all of the scheme side- Track and Trace, vaccines better.

I'm worried if we can't do Track and Trace whatsoever, what's the chances of a 2 injection vaccination policy going well across the nation?

He is a despicable man, but I actually respect Trump a lot more than Johnson. Trump is what he is, he doesn’t hide it. Everything about Johnson is fake, literally everything - from his stage name onwards.
I doubt he even knows what he believes half the time. I don’t for one minute thin’ he wanted Brexit. It was simply a vehicle for him to front a high profile national campaign. Thousands of families are going to struggle with their groceries and cost of living for literally years because he used that issue to become PM. Because he liked the idea of that. Words fail utterly to convey my contempt for him.

@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.

Go on then. I am interested

I don't like the guy one bit but he's had a hell of a year to deal with. I wouldn't wish it on any prime minister.

I would rather have had Tony Blair pre-Iraq war than Boris any day of the week

Are you seriously even comparing them? ROFLMAO. Seriously, I despised Blair once he went down the Iraq rabbit hole and manipulated parliament. But pre-Iraq? Blair was one of the most respected statesmen of the last 50 years. He was objectively a political titan, respected across Europe, across the US, across the world (Even though his actual policies were mostly fairly beige). You cannot put Al Johnson in the same sentence! It’s beyond absurd!!!

He dealt with an unprecedented situation in the way that his own character dictated, and unfortunately, his usual offhand, lighthearted style of government wasn't the correct response to Covid. I don't know if it would have been much better with anyone else in charge. I think he's doing his best under very challenging circumstances.

No, I don't think he's doing too badly and given the choice we had at the last election - him, commie Corbyn or school-marm Swinson I'm glad we've got Boris. He's not an ideal PM, but he's bright and I honestly think he's doing his best in a pretty impossible situation. I don't see comparable European nations doing a lot better tbh.

Cam77 That's what I just said. Other posters were saying Tony Blair was worse and I was pointing out, as you are, that TB was well-respected but also ran a tight ship domestically. The last time I felt reasonably well off and the country looked like it wasn't in a complete state (roads, NHS and so on) was when he was in power.

Cameron, Theresa, Boris, it's an absolute mystery and completely on Labour that they are in power.

BJ amd Trump are cut from the same cloth. Both weak ineffectual leaders. Both countries worst death rate in the world

From people in the health service I have heard the vaccine programme so far is going well. It's hopeful.

@feelingverylazytoday
Comparing the two is absurd. If you did an anonymous poll of the Tory Party (let alone Labour), Blair would win by about 98%-2%.
Nobody who has worked with Johnson rates him in the slightest. David Cameron was a lightweight political, but he was a politician. Johnson doesn’t merit the name. He’s a journalist and a performer and a moderately amusing after dinner speaker. Politican? PM? Don’t make me laugh.

I keep trying to imagine what a shit show it would’ve been with Ms May in charge. But then I get scared. So I stop.

My major gripe with Boris is that he forced through this end of uyear Brexit deadline and did not change it when the pandemic hit. He or his advisors must have realised that th pandemic was liable to peak again around Christmas just when Brexit was about to happen (forced through by him).

Also, his leadership and foresight on Covid has not been good but his major culpability is around Brexit.

My earliest memory is Thatcher. She was a heartless hypocrite (did all she could to withdraw state support for the needy then happily accepted hundreds of thousands of pounds from Major’s slush fund for retired PMs, and her wealthy family took state money for her funeral), and she oversaw some terrible, terrible events. However, she did at least appoint some competent cabinet members, and she understood the necessity of building close ties with Europe.

Johnson has engineered his own crises. Brexit is his own doing. He ‘s the only UK PM to have a pandemic to deal with, but other world leaders have managed a far more competent response. He had 2 months at the start of the year to respond to growing concerns, but instead he went awol for 6 weeks and then guffawed about how he’d been shaking hands with everyone he met.

He only wanted the prestige and one-upmanship of being PM. He has never wanted to step up and do the actual work involved. Cameron set the wheels in motion to create a huge UK wide problem out of nothing, but Johnson has been an absolute disaster.

@Poppingnostopping
Yeah, sorry. I know that’s what you were saying I just got carried away. I just can’t believe that others (not you) would compare them. I almost struggle to call Johnson the worst PM in my lifetime because I still can’t fathom him as PM. My first reaction to seeing him on TV is to laugh. What is this crap journalist who can’t string a sentence together without half a dozen uhhmmms doing in No10?