Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
OnlyTeaForMe · 21/12/2020 16:18

@cam77
"equality acts for women etc have been brought in under Labour governments"
Think we only have to look at the FWR boards to see how little Labour care about women's rights . . .

CaptainSandy · 21/12/2020 16:22

He thought he'd swan about having a jolly jape with Brexit, instead he got landed with this pandemic, but still persists in dragging us over the cliff of a no-deal Brexit right in the middle of the winter wave.
Lazy, immoral, criminally irresponsible.

Plus it would be nice to have a PM that could actually string a sentence together, given how many press conferences we now have to endure.

Thewinterofdiscontent · 21/12/2020 16:29

One of the better things about this government is the way they have remained as a unified, solid, fairly upbeat cabinet. I think the fact they seem to have each other’s backs is reassuring. Not many manage it Tory or Labour.

I think Labour’s major stumbling block is its lack of positivity. Every time they have a representative on the news is to find fault with something. Their message is always one of complaint. I know it’s the job of opposition to hold government to account but they have nothing positive to say as a party.
If it’s not constantly moaning about government policy, it’s putting other MP’s down especially their own. Everything from BLM to teachers to Covid is about finding someone to blame.

Arthersleep · 21/12/2020 16:30

I think that he's a terrible leader and exhibits very few leadership skills, including failing to oust Cummings. He's all bluster. He has had a very tough job, but Brexit was in part, his doing. That said, despite me thinking that he's a useless idiot, I did actually visit that fact checking website that seeks to expose truth rather than bias and was surprised to discover that, re testing, we're actually one of the better performing countries and that track and trace was not half a disaster as the papers made it out to be. I think that Corbyn would have done an even worse job. I can't help thinking that Theresa May would have handled it better and taken it more seriously from the start as she seems much more detail oriented. And the female leaders across the world seem to have performed better re covid than men.

bottledants · 21/12/2020 16:32

Nah, that's David Cameron, who held a referendum on something he didn't want to happen and which he openly admitted he had not thought through what the implications would be if he lost (there's no plan B)

What an incompetent moron.

UnshakenNeedsStirring · 21/12/2020 16:36

Hes definitely the worst. No shame! No morals and will be remembered as the king of U Turns. Shambolic person

LexMitior · 21/12/2020 16:37

He’s an indecisive people pleaser, who doesn’t grasp detail. Why anyone thought he would be a good idea during the most complex series of negotiations this country has ever faced and decide to pick a fight with all the people who can deliver at the same time is mystifying.

Be prepared for more. He isn’t going to get better at this job.

Kolo · 21/12/2020 16:37

Yanbu. He's a joke. He's incompetent, self-absorbed, unwilling to put the effort in and a terrible leader. He was only supposed to be the face of brexit and he's found himself way out of his depth with this pandemic. He's made the classic mistake of finding himself completely out of his depth so surrounded himself with other incompetents who shout the loudest or talk with the most confidence, assuming THEY know what they're doing, but actually they're just as rubbish. I don't think I've ever seen a more incompetent cabinet. It's like we've let a bunch of self-centred egotistical 6th formers run the country during a crisis.

itsgettingweird · 21/12/2020 16:39

I agree with above poster that MT had no regard for low earners (who are keyworkers and vital to the country in 2020).

BJ is indecisive and out of his depth and not up to the job. But I don't believe he's ruthless and do believe he genuinely wants to level up - even if he's so out of touch with reality of poverty he hasn't a hope of achieving it.

Kolo · 21/12/2020 16:40

I absolutely loathed Thatcher, but it's difficult to imagine she'd have handled this situation with so much blustering, uncertainty and u-turns.

dudsville · 21/12/2020 16:41

Boris didn't create the pandemic - Cameron created Brexit. He gets my vote as the worst.

Applesonthelawn · 21/12/2020 16:42

Unprecedented circumstances so exceptionally difficult to make a meaningful comparison. I think these are the darkest days of it all.
It's a shit job and not many people would want it for that money.
Better than Blair already though.

User158340 · 21/12/2020 16:42

@Gingerkittykat

Theresa May was weak, I think she would have done worse than him.
It comes down to circumstances.

May was robotic. She'd take a position and stick to it and was uncompromising. At times this is what we've needed in the pandemic and other times we've needed to change course.

Boris on the other hand is a rabbit in the headlights and is too cowardly to deliver bad news, so waits till he has no choice and things have got a lot worse. That's not leadership.

Boris is a populist showman. Turns out that's not what you need a pandemic.

I think Blair, Major or Brown would have been better at managing this. Sturgeon has done well. There's no easy way to manage this and you're never going to please everyone. Boris thinks he can.

MimiDaisy11 · 21/12/2020 16:42

I'm confused why some people are feeling sorry for Boris for having to deal with Brexit. He was in the debates championing it. It's his mess to own. At least with Theresa May, you could say she didn't want it and was trying her best. Boris has no excuse. He's gone for a hard Brexit and had a stupid strategy from the start.

Also, people's memories are so short with covid. He missed so many COBRA meetings in the beginning. He expended so much good will by defending Cummings who broke the rules. He's bundled so much.

Last PMQs he was sneering at Starmer for trying to suggest we cancel Christmas rules based on the rising infection rates. Then he waits until the last minute when he has no choice but to act. That's always his strategy - wait until the last minute so there are very few options left and then he's forced to act. That's not a leader. He's not a serious politician and while many politicians would struggle with everything this year he's especially not suited to the position.

User158340 · 21/12/2020 16:43

@dudsville

Boris didn't create the pandemic - Cameron created Brexit. He gets my vote as the worst.
Cameron will go down as the worst if Brexit is a failure. Brexit is his legacy. 10 years of austerity is his legacy. The inevitable break up of the union and the UK is his legacy. He may just go down as the worst ever. Boris won't be far behind.
User158340 · 21/12/2020 16:45

@MimiDaisy11

I'm confused why some people are feeling sorry for Boris for having to deal with Brexit. He was in the debates championing it. It's his mess to own. At least with Theresa May, you could say she didn't want it and was trying her best. Boris has no excuse. He's gone for a hard Brexit and had a stupid strategy from the start.

Also, people's memories are so short with covid. He missed so many COBRA meetings in the beginning. He expended so much good will by defending Cummings who broke the rules. He's bundled so much.

Last PMQs he was sneering at Starmer for trying to suggest we cancel Christmas rules based on the rising infection rates. Then he waits until the last minute when he has no choice but to act. That's always his strategy - wait until the last minute so there are very few options left and then he's forced to act. That's not a leader. He's not a serious politician and while many politicians would struggle with everything this year he's especially not suited to the position.

I think a lot of people look at the man and see someone in way over their head and just feel sorry for them. He wanted the job though and his Brexit strategy in 2016 was about undermining Cameron because he wanted the job for himself eventually.
Bathroom12345 · 21/12/2020 16:45

So who in say the last 50 years do you think would have done better? Genuinelly interested

Unsure33 · 21/12/2020 16:46

Really ?

What’s the point , we are where we are . Mainly because the alternative was worse .

Some of the posts are nasty and vile on here .

If your children spoke about another person the way he is spoken about it would be classed as bullying .

Brexit fine that’s fair game , but the pandemic , no I don’t think it is fair . Most other European countries are in the same position as us and struggling big time . Even Sweden is asking for help for their hospital cases.

TooManyDogsandChildren · 21/12/2020 16:50

Tony Blair and the WMD?

Gordon Brown and the changes to trust law affecting vulnerable people?

Teresa May and her determination to sign the Brexit paperwork when she had not one iota of a plan?

Nope we have a long track road of shit politicians.

Bathroom12345 · 21/12/2020 16:50

I agree with PP who said MT was a scientist but no way would let it get like this. Economy trashed, like this and would have made some hard decisions.

On reflection I believe we should have locked down the people who are likely to die from this horrible virus. But that is unthinkable nowadays so we have ended up with this.

LexMitior · 21/12/2020 16:51

Bullying? Do you know how tough politicians are? He hounded May out of her position and now he has it worse. Just desserts and that’s how politics is.

This situation is going to be going for another six months. Brexit will not be finished. He is failing and he will definitely be unable to deliver on the rest of his manifesto:

TooManyDogsandChildren · 21/12/2020 16:52

I hate autocorrect!

Bathroom12345 · 21/12/2020 16:53

For those who think they can do better. Stand for parliament, become an MP, stand for PM. No, I didn’t think that would be popular. I cannot stand Starmer and his endless carping with no idea about what he would do himself.

Unsure33 · 21/12/2020 16:53

Plus I think the MSM a have been appalling . They are responsible for more confusion than the government.

For example one particular paper said last week , yes last week

Why have we got teir 3 , why do we have lockdown , deaths are down , infections are down , hospitals are not full . Controls basically too draconian ,

Today ......why did Boris say we could have Christmas , blaming him.

Then also today they print an article from a scientist who says they can’t possibly know the new mutation spreads more ??????

So basically dividing the nation against each other . And that’s what they have done all the way through .

Plus now encouraging people to stockpile when the NFU have said the rumours about shortages are untrue.

Well they won’t be now because everyone has been given reason to clear the shelves .

MSM aware the pits .

UseOfWeapons · 21/12/2020 16:54

@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.
Absolutely. At 54, I can remember a lot of PMs, and I still don’t think BJ was the worst. Tony Blair was scary.