What would Theresa May have done differently?

[popsiclesforbreakfast]

Settle an argument between me and my DH please....

We are both non-Tory voters but we were having a discussion this morning about Boris' handling of the COVID situation and both remarked how relieved Theresa May must be to have left when she did given that Brexit seemed like her biggest issue at the time.

DH doesn't believe she would have handled COVID any better whereas I feel she is more cautious and likely to have taken heed of advice earlier on than Boris did, and possibly worked with Nicola Sturgeon to deliver consistent advice across the board.

Please don't flame me! I'm not a politics expert but generally interested in people's thoughts on this...

She has some moral component to her belief system, I think (also non-Tory here) so she might have realised it was unethical to give plum jobs & contracts to incompetent cronies.

If she could have put in place an efficient track & trace system we'd be in a better place now, for a start.

She wouldn’t have caught it herself I suspect, she’s more of a natural social distancer than Johnson (euphemism). As a type 1 diabetic I certainly hope she wouldn’t have.

She might still have had Hammond and Hunt in Treasury and Health - I think Hunt would definitely have been an improvement on Hancock, not so sure about Hammond vs Sunak.

At least she wouldn't have been in the thrall of Cummings.

She wouldn’t have had Cummings in place so we’d have been spared that blow to national solidarity.

I agree with the posters saying she’d have been more cautious and set a better example. She would have brought in Jeremy Hunt, who like him or not, is a good strategic brain and knows the NHS well. She still has that daughter-of-a-vicar moral seriousness about her. It is a shame she’s not still PM.

I think she must be highly relieved to not be PM now. I think she would have been more cautious.
She wouldn’t have had Rishi and to me, he has come through the most polished and assured.
I think whoever was PM, would have been in such a horrifically stressful position that no one could have done perfectly.

Fewer surprise children.

Assuming she could actually reach a decision, I think she'd have stuck to it and I can't see how she could possibly have communicated it any worse even though she was awful at communicating policy.

That said, I think you'd be hard pressed to argue that any former prime minister was less competent than these two. You and DH are essentially arguing which vomit covered pig you'd rather snog.

May would have been glad to have had one child herself.

I think she would have been better - if only because we would have been spared Cummings with Dido Harding laughably in charge of track and trace. As a type 1 diabetic herself she would have well understood about the need for shielding.

She would have fired Cummings who started the whole 'fuck it' attitude that many people have now.

I'd like to think she would have thought through implications of each decision a bit more, and been a bit more sensible.

I would say in hindsight - but even at the time - Eat Out to Help out seemed a ridiculous idea, when we hadn't fully got on top of the numbers and the money could have been much better used elsewhere.

Also I find her a bit more trustworthy whereas I just ignore anything Boris says as he's a bumbling incompetent liar, who only wanted to be PM for self aggrandisement rather than any sense of public duty.

She would have fired Cummings and I think j being a lot more present. I think she'd have worked with the other parts of the U.K. to be more consistent

May would have been glad to have had one child herself.

I'm not aware of that - very sad if true - however I have no doubt she would have been sensible enough not to have had a couple unexpectedly during a pandemic, taken paternity leave and taken her eyes off matters when her attention was needed the most.

I think she has less of an ego or a desire to be revered in the history books than Boris, so I do think she would have listened to expert opinions in both the science and economics etc, rather than trying to people please (ie we won't lock down like the rest of Europe as people won't like me), or listening to someone like DC who actually isn't an expert in anything to do with pandemic planning. She would probably have had more empathy for those shielding and actually put something workable in place without just saying stay indoors, oh actually head back to work we can't be arsed to protect you anymore; she did acknowledge the stress worrying about medicine shortages during Brexit would cause for example, no doubt as she relates. Impossible to tell, but she seemed a clearer communicator, and probably wouldn't have been so much bloody back and forth and unclear comms.

Of course no one knows how anyone else would have done, but I honestly can't see how she could have done any worse, they have messed up more or less all of it. Sending people from hospitals back to care homes, declaring a centralised PPE procurement which forbade trusts to get hold of their own- even from smaller suppliers, furlough which instead of just helping those businesses who needed it could and was used by big business to save some pennies, the schools debacle, the mess that is track and trace.

I think she would have been more cautious and would not have supported Dominic Cummings' actions.

She would have done much better than Boris IF she had been "allowed" to.
Eg, I suspect she would have been much more on the ball in February and March (would have attended COBR for a start).
I also think she would have taken precautions much faster, BUT she would have been undermined by certain members of her own party (especially Boris!) whenever she tried to do anything.

She would have fired Cummings and I think j being a lot more present. I think she'd have worked with the other parts of the U.K. to be more consistent

She was famously unwilling to listen to the views of others or to share plans but I agree that not lying in defense of Cummings would have made a big difference to people's attitude and just turning up to Cobra meetings would help.

She'd have dealt with it much better. A far more serious person with a cabinet who were actually functionally competent, even if you don't like their politics. Johnson is completely unsuited to this situation.

@SquishySquirmy

She would have done much better than Boris IF she had been "allowed" to. Eg, I suspect she would have been much more on the ball in February and March (would have attended COBR for a start). I also think she would have taken precautions much faster, BUT she would have been undermined by certain members of her own party (especially Boris!) whenever she tried to do anything.

I think this is all spot on.

I suspect she would have been better than Boris, although that wouldn't be difficult.

I somehow can't imagine her sucking up to Dominic Cummings, though she would doubtless have had her own special advisers to come out with some shit.

Neither are great Prime Ministers.

I am rather inclined to agree with those saying that she must be relieved to no longer be Prime Minister. You only have to look briefly at her to see a big difference in her. Though quite frankly, I cannot understand why anyone in their right mind would want the job anyway.

T.May with an 80 seat majority would have done a far better job than Bojo the Clown plus he wouldn't have been in her cabinet for starters.

Aside from Trump which other world leader failed to take CV seriously? remember Johnson told us shaking hands with CV patients was fine, that Herd Immunity was being seriously considered.
Who told us in Spring that we'd be over this in 12 weeks, in late summer told us we'd be back to normal by November, certainly by xmas & together with Sunak introduced a scheme that has helped spread CV. oh and got that poor woman a few extra years in an Iranian jail with his stupid big mouth.

Bojo belongs in a circus.

Its frankly quite unbelievable just how far this country has fallen in just a few years.

A far more serious person with a cabinet who were actually functionally competent

Chris Grayling
Karen Bradley
Boris Johnson
Liam Fox
Priti Patel
Gavin Williamson

It was probably the most useless cabinet in history, until the current one.

Given the Tories had a lot of experience and proven competence they could draw on it's daft that she gave inexperienced numpties and proven idiots top jobs because they were yes men.

I think everyone is forgetting how historically terrible she was just because Johnson is so inept.

She would have found a way to blame it on immigrants so she could have got her 'go home' vans out again

I wasn’t a fan of her at all but she would have been better by a country mile.
As would Jeremy Hunt have been instead of that weasel Hancock.
She wasn’t great at leading the party and in particularly dealing with tory rebels but I think she had the right ideas about a lot of things and definitely had a moral compass too.

She has some moral component to her belief system, I think so she might have realised it was unethical to give plum jobs & contracts to incompetent cronies

And would maybe have put restrictions on inbound international travellers sooner being less in the thrall of big business.