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?

Try living in Wales!

The circumstances this year are unprecedented. The virus is unpredictable. There are plenty of countries in a far worse state than the U.K. Boris Johnson is doing the best he can in a horrific situation which is constantly changing. Whatever he does, he gets criticised - damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Who would want to be in his shoes? You can’t say he’s the worst PM when nobody has ever had to face all the challenges he has.

@ElfMadeSantaList

The circumstances this year are unprecedented. The virus is unpredictable. There are plenty of countries in a far worse state than the U.K. Boris Johnson is doing the best he can in a horrific situation which is constantly changing. Whatever he does, he gets criticised - damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Who would want to be in his shoes? You can’t say he’s the worst PM when nobody has ever had to face all the challenges he has.

seriously my cat could have done a better job

Ooh hard hat needed op. There'll be no Boris hate tolerated on mumsnet.

I think Theresa May would've been MUCH worse, Tony Blair would've been much better, no idea about anyone else. I've heard TB talk on Newscast most weeks lately though and every time I hear him speak I think 'I wish you were still PM' and I couldn't stand him when he was actually PM - slippery little smarm-bag, but he knows his shit when it comes to this kind of stuff.

WHOEVER was currently PM, the same people would be on here moaning about what a shitty mess they'd made of everything.

The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing for MN's armchair politicians. It's a bit like the stock market - it's easy to say "we should have bought at the bottom or sold at the top" of the market.
Covid has been a constantly shifting challenge. Back in March for every person saying "lockdown fully" on here there was another saying "Don't lock down too early." But of course EVERYONE claims they could have done a better job . . .

There are NO scenarios where the UK population would now be saying what a wonderful job the government had done, regardless of which party they were from.

And as others have said, most other European countries are in similar situations.

@Chloemol

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

Completely agree with this. I also remember the 70's when we had the 3 day week, the power cuts when you had 4 hours on and 4 hours off every other day, the gravediggers strike where nobody could be buried, the rubbish piling up in the streets for weeks on end as a result of other strikes, massive inflation - so much so that you actually got a weighting in your wages (if you were lucky) to top them up, mortgages at more than 15%. That was worse then we have now, but as there was no internet back then, and only 3 channels that went off around 11pm most days things didn't get remembered as much as they do now. So, on reflection, it was worse back then

@ElfMadeSantaList
Brexit was of his own making. As was the decision to try to ignore the virus in February Andy half of March (herd immunity) until it had already spread through the whole country. Would it have spread anyway? Yes. Would locking down sooner have saved lives - people who looked to the government for guidance whether to go ahead and attend that marathon, shopping mall, concert, football game, visit elderly relatives. Yes.

@Chloemol
You must be furious at the Tories for engineering Brexit and thereby allowing tens of billions of offshore tax evasion to continue annually then.

Oh fuck off it's an impossible situation he telling everyone what they don't want to hear .

All the other countries crowing about there success full handling are now in the same position as us

You can only compare like for like rather than compare a sparsely populated country with compliant people to our country .

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

No, completely on the UK public, that cannot see further than a tax cut or badly eaten 'burger.
They chose DC over both Brown and Miliband, chose a womanising cheating liar over Corbyn, who is a caring individual, even May said she was impressed over his ability to reach out to the victims of the London bridge attack and the peoples of Grenfell.

Corbyns more extreme policies would have been held in check by more moderate Labour MPs.

@mrstreacle
We’re comparing PMs not governments. Also comparing a government of the 1970s with one of 2020 is meaningless. The average house price in 1975 was 10 grand. A different world.

@rwalker
Whether on Brexit, the virus, the economy, education... Al Johnson is now getting shown to the world as the complete political nonentity which everyone who has ever worked with him - ever - would have told you he was and had said he was if you’d only listened. A damn fine opportunist though, I’ll give him that.

James Callaghan (Labour late 1970s PM) much worse.

Let the country slump into the Winter of Discontent and I still remember the power shortages, rubbish piling up in the streets and all the public sector strikes.
My granny died when she was taken to hospital in an open-backed army jeep in -5 c temperatures in the North East because the ambulance workers were on strike. Then we couldn't have a funeral until almost 2 months later.

Hideous times. Young people complaining because they can't go to the pub really have no idea.

@zafferana
We’d have ended up with a better deal under TM than we’re going to get with Johnson - and without the whole continent of Europe hating our guts.

Margaret Thatcher held some awful views (in my opinion at least) but she was competant, hardworking and in her own way kept to her beliefs. Boris Johnson seems to have some pretty awful views as well (based on his writings etc) but is also incompetant, lazy and does whatever he thinks will bring him short term gain
So the question is really, is it better to have an incompetant phsycopath or a competant phscopath in charge? Arguably an incompetant psychopath is better because they are likely to do less damage but that isnt exactly a ringing endoresement

Really?!

I would like to nominate Tony Blair for destabilising the entire Middle East, the repercussions we are still living with. I’m sure there is lot we still don’t know on that front

Maggie- strong lady but fucked UK industry forever

Who would want to be in his shoes?

It's not like he was dragged kicking and screaming into Number 10 is it? He got there by being more Machiavellian than Gove. It's not a poisoned chalice that some poor honourable soul is forced to accept. Most PMs get there by ruthless ambition, and no doubt thoroughly enjoy their time in power, while knowing there are at least half a dozen colleagues waiting to stab them in the back and step into those shoes.

I think BJ is the worst PM, mainly because he seems completely unashamed of being a lazy, lying, self-serving opportunist. We've had others who have made terrible decisions, lacked leadership skills or been misguided in what they thought was right. But I think PMs generally believe they are doing what is best for the country, even when what they are doing might seem jaw-droppingly wrong. BJ stands out for me because he doesn't seem to have a moral compass or to care about the future of the country.

He’s done worse than almost every other world leader in dealing with the Covid crisis (exceptions who have done worse include Trump & Bolsonaro). He plunged ahead with Brexit despite the pandemic which was stupid. He’s causally racist when he’s supposed to be diplomatic and negotiate. He lies, he’s lazy and he often appears the worst for drink.

Yeah he’s the worst we’ve had.

@OnlyTeaForMe
You do realize that nearly every provision to improve the lives of the 90% - be it the NHS, unions, minimum wage, basic working condition provisions, equality acts for women etc have been brought in under Labour governments? It’s not always a smooth path. But again, we’re talking PMs not governments.

@OnlyTeaForMe

James Callaghan (Labour late 1970s PM) much worse.

Let the country slump into the Winter of Discontent and I still remember the power shortages, rubbish piling up in the streets and all the public sector strikes.
My granny died when she was taken to hospital in an open-backed army jeep in -5 c temperatures in the North East because the ambulance workers were on strike. Then we couldn't have a funeral until almost 2 months later.

Hideous times. Young people complaining because they can't go to the pub really have no idea.

Thats true, but back in the 1970s, how much attention would you have paid to someone talking about the government of Stanley Baldwin? Regardless of whether or not you think Baldwin was a political genius or not you probably wouldnt have considered it that relevant to your situation then, in the WInter of Discontent

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow
As much as I despised the Iraq war, America would have done it worst with or without Britain. Late 90s Britain was a utopia compared to today.

Yes, maybe @Cam77!

Covid isn't his fault, but his spectacular mishandling of brexit (oven ready deal anyone) and mishandling of the contracts etc definitely is.

Margaret Thatcher as a scientist by training would have properly listened to the science and would have been decisive in acting. No-one working for her would have dared pull the stunt and tell the lies that Dominic Cummings did and still been in a job.