Pick a Prime Minister

[Jourdain11]

Since it seems to be the widely-held view that Boris Johnson hasn't done a great job of handling this crisis, which recent (last 30 years) former PM do you think would have done the best?

Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Theresa May

Throw in the LOTOs for good measure:

Jeremy Corbyn
Ed Miliband
(David Cameron)
Michael Howard
Ian Duncan Smith
William Hague
(Tony Blair)
John Smith
Neil Kinnock

Throw in Ken Clarke for good measure, since he was almost LOTO twice and held two of the Great Offices of State.

I am genuinely curious as to what people think! My guess would be Blair or Thatcher. Not sure if I could cope with the gushy Blair speeches every day, personally, though.

Nick Clegg, the Gang of Four, David Steele, Clem Atlee and Barbara Castle are all barred from my list.

As are Dennis Skinner, Angela Merkel and Winston Churchill.

They don't fit the eligibility criteria 😂

Thatcher, because of her background as a trained scientist. She study chemistry at Oxford. Then Tony

@Gunpowder

😂😂😂😂😂 I was in the audience of QT when he was on the panel. A genuinely really nice bloke and I am no Tory. His Twitter is rather amusing at times too 😊

Boris.
I think everyone is responsible for their health and as for the services, there's more than one guy involved. He's done his best. Noone would have gotten it right with the culture we have. We are a country of free thinkers, free speakers and we absolutely do not tolerate a nanny state. We can't suddenly demand what we are not, just to pin everything on one man. I'm not a Tory btw.

Jourdain11 Spoilsport.

Does Boris fit anyone’s eligibility criteria apart from his own?

Boris.
I think everyone is responsible for their health and as for the services, there's more than one guy involved. He's done his best. Noone would have gotten it right with the culture we have. We are a country of free thinkers, free speakers and we absolutely do not tolerate a nanny state. We can't suddenly demand what we are not, just to pin everything on one man. I'm not a Tory btw.

This

@al1langdownthecleghole. Yes you are quite right. I mixed them up - always think it was the good dr who championed the abortion act.

David Owen it is

I bet he is @Whattodowhattodooo! He comes across well. Never thought I’d say this but I miss the old fashioned sort of Tories.

David Steele was the guy who "passed from rising hope to elder statesman without any intervening period whatsoever"

Ken Clarke isn't even a Tory any more - think of that!

Lol at ' lockdown means lockdown' 😁
I can hear Theresa May saying it!
I liked Gordon Brown too. Mrs T was controversial but she sums up the 80s for me.

@Tanith what selling gold at an all time low was a plan ??

Tony Blair for sure. I protested against the Iraq war a lot, that was awful, but on the domestic front he was pretty darn good. Second would be Gordon brown but Tony as a better communicator so he wins for me.

To be honest I'd have any of them bar IDS over Boris Johnson.

Pin everything on one man?

Why not? When asked in one of the early daily briefings if the buck stopped with him Boris Johnson said “Yes.”

I reckon Theresa May probably has frequent nightmare of herself at the despatch box, trying to get her party to vote for her "plan", with John Bercow having reenacted some WW2 standing order which necessitates her standing at the despatch box to answer questions throughout every day of the crisis..

Gordon Brown.

John Major or Gordon Brown. Sensible planning

@strugglingwithdeciding I don't recall Gordon Brown selling gold during his premiership, nor having that as a plan for his response to the 2009 financial crisis.

If you are referring to his selling gold years before when he was Chancellor, yes he did. Margaret Thatcher sold our oil and our utility companies. I think her sell-offs did far more damage to the country.

@Jourdain11

Ken Clarke isn't even a Tory any more - think of that!

Yes, when our current govt booted out the likes of Ken Clarke and other quality MPs e.g.Gaulke, they lost me. I am very impressed with Starmer so far.

In answer to your question OP, and not straying into wider politics :
Margaret Thatcher was a scientist and nobody's fool. She wouldn't have stood there like a rabbit in the headlights,bluffing and blustering. She would have asked very searching questions and considered the answers carefully. Unlike the present flounderer.

Ken Clarke isn't even a Tory any more - think of that!

😲

Margaret Thatcher was a scientist and nobody's fool. She wouldn't have stood there like a rabbit in the headlights,bluffing and blustering. She would have asked very searching questions and considered the answers carefully. Unlike the present flounderer.

She would. I've never been a Tory voter but I'd take Thatcher over Johnson any day.

Gordon Brown or Ken Clarke.

Maggie without any hesitation, we'll never see another leader like her again.
But Boris is superb and doing a great job.

@bellinisurge

Not Fucking Thatcher. Presume people saying Thatcher are too young to remember that she sacrificed whole communities for her ideology.

No, I grew up in the 1980s in Derbyshire and I absolutely hated Thatcher.

But as the only PM we have ever had who was a trained scientist, she would be clearly the best qualified among former PMs & LOTOs to lead the country through a pandemic.

She would have been absolutely on top of planning & preparation in January & February when the current government was distracted by Brexit and Johnson’s chaotic private life.