Who Was The Greatest British Prime Minister Of Recent Times?

[Westerheim]

It's beggar's belief that Clement Attlee, the PM who laid the foundations of modern Britain, isn't there, yet Alec Douglas-Home, the shortest serving PM of the 20th century, is.

[Wind in the Willows]

I admire Margaret Thatcher for taking back the Falkland Islands and allowing council tenants to buy their houses. Unfortunately she also had her bad policies as well.

[The UK in Exile]

I admire Margaret Thatcher for taking back the Falkland Islands and allowing council tenants to buy their houses. Unfortunately she also had her bad policies as well.

She also lost the falklands.

well, she lost the council houses too.

[Conscentia]

It's beggar's belief that Clement Attlee, the PM who laid the foundations of modern Britain, isn't there, yet Alec Douglas-Home, the shortest serving PM of the 20th century, is.

See:

Poll deliberately leaves out Clement Attlee to skew statistics, therefore poll invalid.

Er, no. The poll is limited to 10 options, so the 10 most recent were chosen.
Attlee was not deliberately left out. There simply happen to be 12 PMs more recent than him.

[Westerheim]

It's beggar's belief that Clement Attlee, the PM who laid the foundations of modern Britain, isn't there, yet Alec Douglas-Home, the shortest serving PM of the 20th century, is.

See:

Er, no. The poll is limited to 10 options, so the 10 most recent were chosen.
Attlee was not deliberately left out. There simply happen to be 12 PMs more recent than him.

Still. One can anticipate that Douglas-Home would get no votes, and accommodate for that.

[European Socialist Republic]

Lord Palmerston. 150 years ago is recent, right?

[Conscentia]

See:

Still. One can anticipate that Douglas-Home would get no votes, and accommodate for that.

That'd make the poll biased.
Also, I'm not sure i'd call 1945-1951 "recent times".

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

Surprised to see so much love for Thatcher.

But yeah, Thatcher.

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

I admire Margaret Thatcher for taking back the Falkland Islands and allowing council tenants to buy their houses. Unfortunately she also had her bad policies as well.

well, she lost the council houses too.

Yeah, why do those damn proles need to own property anyway!

[Alyakia]

well, she lost the council houses too.

Yeah, why do those damn proles need to own property anyway!

i'm pretty sure it's a reference to how the proles don't own the property. over 1/3rd of sold houses ended up in the hands of private landlords, with the family of the guy who cooked up the idea owning at least 40. this may or may not be part of the reason why we don't have enough council houses now. nice try though.

[Fionnuala_Saoirse]

John Major I find least offensive.

[The UK in Exile]

well, she lost the council houses too.

Yeah, why do those damn proles need to own property anyway!

They don't own their own property now.

[Trelso]

I didn't even know who Douglas-Holme is.

Attlee, though as he's not on the poll, I voted for Blair mostly because I can't really pass accurate judgement on those prior to Thatcher and personally have a strong dislike for Thatcher's policies.

[Divair2]

I admire Margaret Thatcher for taking back the Falkland Islands and allowing council tenants to buy their houses. Unfortunately she also had her bad policies as well.

You admire her for creating a property bubble?

[Alyakia]

I admire Margaret Thatcher for taking back the Falkland Islands and allowing council tenants to buy their houses. Unfortunately she also had her bad policies as well.

You admire her for creating a property bubble?

margaret thatcher: where even the good was bad

[Trelso]

I admire Margaret Thatcher for taking back the Falkland Islands and allowing council tenants to buy their houses. Unfortunately she also had her bad policies as well.

You admire her for creating a property bubble?

Isn't that basically the premise for most modern conservatives supporting Thatcher's policies? They got rich out of it.

[European Socialist Republic]

You admire her for creating a property bubble?

margaret thatcher: where even the good was bad

You gotta admit, she was really good at being bad.

[Divair2]

You admire her for creating a property bubble?

Isn't that basically the premise for most modern conservatives supporting Thatcher's policies? They got rich out of it.

Not the conservatives on this website. They're kids, so they don't own property.

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

Yeah, why do those damn proles need to own property anyway!

i'm pretty sure it's a reference to how the proles don't own the property. over 1/3rd of sold houses ended up in the hands of private landlords, with the family of the guy who cooked up the idea owning at least 40. this may or may not be part of the reason why we don't have enough council houses now. nice try though.

Ah okay, my mistake then.

[Infected Mushroom]

So the question: Who was the greatest British Prime Minister of recent times?
If I had to pick one, I would have to pick Harold Wilson. He was the last successful true Socialist Prime Minister, he made the process of de-colonisation go much smoother when compared to France or Portugal, and of course the rain dance incident was hilarious.
So, NSG: Who would you pick?

Tony Blair. He has greatly improved the British government's capabilities to use technology to monitor and protect citizens... hence improved national security.

[Viritica]

Margaret Thatcher.

I would vote for Churchill if he was up there, though.

[JeebusCrust]

So the question: Who was the greatest British Prime Minister of recent times?
If I had to pick one, I would have to pick Harold Wilson. He was the last successful true Socialist Prime Minister, he made the process of de-colonisation go much smoother when compared to France or Portugal, and of course the rain dance incident was hilarious.
So, NSG: Who would you pick?

Tony Blair. He has greatly improved the British government's capabilities to use technology to monitor and protect citizens... hence improved national security.

Protect us from what? The weather?

[Greater-London]

Such a high rating for Wilson but then I guess anyone looks good when your standing next to Ted Heath.

None of the last ten have been especially brilliant in my eyes; I think Mrs. Thatcher was probably an necessary evil but thats probably the nicest thing I can say about her.

Those who I feel for? Probably John Major and Gordon Brown - two people I think history will be kinder too then we are at the moment. The truth is that both of them were doomed to be unpopular they caught the end of the wave of their parties popularity. I also think that both of them have GENUINE good intentions but not strong or especially good leaders.

I also loathe Tony Blair and I think Jim Callaghan was useless.

[Infected Mushroom]

Tony Blair. He has greatly improved the British government's capabilities to use technology to monitor and protect citizens... hence improved national security.

Protect us from what? The weather?

i was thinking in terms of law and order...

[Greater-London]

Margaret Thatcher.

I would vote for Churchill if he was up there, though.

Lots of people choose Churchill in lists of great prime ministers but I think hes possibly one of our most overatated. Thats not to say that he wasn't an exceptional war leader and the right man at the right time but domestically he was a terrible Prime Minister.

He switched parties twice, suffered a stroke in office, drank to much, wrong about Ireland, wrong about India and wrong about the gold standard.

Not that this should take away from his record from 1940 - 1945 but I think it's something to consider when we get all loved up about the guy.