Rank the UK's post war PMs.
Rank the UK's post war PMs.
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Original Poster:

1,998 posts

235 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all

215cu

2,956 posts

240 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Duely done.

Who's people's top 3?

Mine are:

Thatcher
Churchill
SuperMac.

cymtriks

4,561 posts

275 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Well the ones responsible for the 70s can go straight to the bottom. (McMillan, Heath, Callaghan)

Eden, Brown and Home next

The great reformers, those who actually gave us an alternative and delivered it, go to the top (MrsT, Atlee)

The rest in the upper middle ground which really shows you what a shocking set we've had.

s2art

18,942 posts

283 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
cymtriks said:
Well the ones responsible for the 70s can go straight to the bottom. (McMillan, Heath, Callaghan)

Eden, Brown and Home next

The great reformers, those who actually gave us an alternative and delivered it, go to the top (MrsT, Atlee)

The rest in the upper middle ground which really shows you what a shocking set we've had.
McMillan in the 70's???

andy400

11,755 posts

261 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Thatcher, Churchill and Gentleman Jim at the top.

Heath, Blair and the current clown-monkey-arse-face at the bottom.

The rest inbetween - order largely irrelevent.

s2art

18,942 posts

283 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
andy400 said:
Thatcher, Churchill and Gentleman Jim at the top.

Heath, Blair and the current clown-monkey-arse-face at the bottom.

The rest inbetween - order largely irrelevent.
Cant see why Callaghan is any where near the top, he presided over a major clusterfk. Remember the late 70's? Antony Eden must go down near the bottom too for not getting the yanks onside and presiding over the Suez debacle.

cymtriks

4,561 posts

275 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
s2art said:
cymtriks said:
Well the ones responsible for the 70s can go straight to the bottom. (McMillan, Heath, Callaghan)

Eden, Brown and Home next

The great reformers, those who actually gave us an alternative and delivered it, go to the top (MrsT, Atlee)

The rest in the upper middle ground which really shows you what a shocking set we've had.
McMillan in the 70's???
Wrong Harold! I ment Willson. Together with Heath and Callaghan he presided over the most embarrasing decade of the century. Three day week, strike after strike, inflation, and none of them did anything to stop it. Perhaps if they had then the bitter medicine of MrsT might have been a lot more palatable but they left it until there was no choice.

barne065

4 posts

218 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
MacMillan, Thatcher and Attlee...but the worst beyond a doubt is Blair, at least Brown, Heath, Tin Can et al tried to do their best in difficult global circumstances whereas Blair!!!! (by the way what was that idiot's "Vision of Britain"???).

s2art

18,942 posts

283 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
I question the Atlee nomination. Vision yes, but spending a fortune on the welfare state, and nationalising everything in sight, just when we needed to recover from the war was bloody stupid. You might ask why Churchill was soon back in power.

eldar

25,304 posts

226 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Interesting question, really.

I'd go for Attlee 1st, for getting the economy started on recovery after the war plus the NHS.

2nd Thatcher. Tough enough to have a vision and stick to it.

3rd Macmillan, again the economy.

Last? A toss up between Brown and Heath.

s2art

18,942 posts

283 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
eldar said:
Interesting question, really.

I'd go for Attlee 1st, for getting the economy started on recovery after the war plus the NHS.

2nd Thatcher. Tough enough to have a vision and stick to it.

3rd Macmillan, again the economy.

Last? A toss up between Brown and Heath.
I doubt even Churchill would have struggled to get the economy moving, what did Atlee do that was so special? (other than the NHS, which could have been done better; look at the German system for instance). Atlee should be held guilty of presiding over the nationalisation of approx 20% of the UK's industry, something it took Maggie to correct after years of relative decline.
And last? What about Blair?

jimmyjimjim

8,316 posts

268 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Brown occupies the bottom 3 places in mine, and Blair the next 3 up....

eldar

25,304 posts

226 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
s2art said:
eldar said:
Interesting question, really.

I'd go for Attlee 1st, for getting the economy started on recovery after the war plus the NHS.

2nd Thatcher. Tough enough to have a vision and stick to it.

3rd Macmillan, again the economy.

Last? A toss up between Brown and Heath.
I doubt even Churchill would have struggled to get the economy moving, what did Atlee do that was so special? (other than the NHS, which could have been done better; look at the German system for instance). Atlee should be held guilty of presiding over the nationalisation of approx 20% of the UK's industry, something it took Maggie to correct after years of relative decline.
And last? What about Blair?
Attlee took over a bankrupt country on an unaffordable manifesto. I think the special bit was managing to meet most of the commitments reasonably well without causing civil war in his party or busting the country. Nationalisation on that scale was a mistake in hindsight, perhaps.

Blair. Not great in my view. Yes, he did sort thr labour party. However, he got us into extended, unwinnable wars by untruth, blew the legacy of the boom years on 2 million unnecessary jobs and kept no reserves. A good party manager, but a poor prime minister. Not quite as bad as heath or Brown, though.

anonymous-user

84 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
1. Thatcher
2. Churchill
3. MacMillan

eldudereno

997 posts

257 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Thatcher at the top!!!! Is 3 million unemployed a good thing then?

Edited by eldudereno on Friday 19th September 22:18

Muntu

7,687 posts

229 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Positions 11 & 12 are probably more keenly contested.

My vote:

11: Gordon Brown

12: Ted Heath

welshbikerduck

1,448 posts

219 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
eldudereno said:
Thatcher at the top!!!! Is 3 million unemployed a good thing then?

Edited by eldudereno on Friday 19th September 22:18
You don't think 3 million are not unemployed today?

All this lot have done is massage the figures i guess the question you should really ask today is how many people claiming benefits.

FourWheelDrift

92,352 posts

314 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
eldudereno said:
Thatcher at the top!!!! Is 3 million unemployed a good thing then?
Inherited problems from the previous Labour idiots. Took a few years to turn around.

Muntu

7,687 posts

229 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Did Ted Heath bowl from the pavillion end?




s2art

18,942 posts

283 months

Friday 19th September 2008
quotequote all
Muntu said:
Positions 11 & 12 are probably more keenly contested.

My vote:

11: Gordon Brown

12: Ted Heath
In the name of all thats holy, Heath was ste but lower than Brown?