Good Prime Ministers we never had

Good Prime Ministers we never had

Author
Discussion

rambo19

2,737 posts

136 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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Murph7355 said:
king arthur said:
John Smith. Just consider this - had he not passed away, we may not have had Tony Blair.
This.

I am not a Labour supporter, generally, but this guy might have made things better across the board. None of Blair's slime, but creating a genuine force for the Conservatives to man up against.
Agree.

JuanCarlosFandango

7,787 posts

70 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
I think the great lost opportunity of (fairly) modern times was the end of Thatcher.

By 1990 the cold war was won, socialism was a spent force and there was almost a danger of peace on earth.

Germany was reunited, the Soviet tyranny was collapsing, South Africa was dismantling apartheid. Even China appeared to realise it had overstepped the mark in Tiananmen Square.

The first Gulf war sort of established Bush Snr's "new world order" with countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Czechoslovakia fighting alongside the US and Britain to say you can't just invade another country. The USSR, in its death throes, backed the UN resolutions and Saddam was kicked out of Kuwait.

Yes there was oil money, score settling and so forth. We hadn't reinvented humanity, but we seemed to be getting somewhere.

Into this mix we threw our best insurance clerk, the rather tame compromise candidate for a Conservative party that wasn't quite sure what to do with its success at home, let alone how to forge a new era of global peace and democracy.

So it sat back and did nothing very much. As Yugoslavia tore itself apart, Russia drank itself stupid and militant mad men from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe went a few centuries back and settled old scores. Then some lunatics flew planes into the World Trade Centre and that dream kind of died.

The only thing Major really did stand for was pushing through the Maastricht treaty at nearly any cost. A cost we're paying now in the Brexit debacle.

It's hard to see who could have stepped into that vacuum and made a better fist of it. My ideal 90s PM would have continued the Thatcher revolution in a more conciliatory style, ensuring that people in the former industrial areas so devastated in the 80s saw the benefits of the free market. Not just welfare and the odd call centre. And at the same time have a strong global voice reflecting those values, and promoting liberal democracy as a better way to run a country than whatever it is they do in Iran and Rwanda. Lawson, Lamont, Tebbit all spring to mind, but none of them really stand out as the obvious choice. Reagan or Thatcher do.

It all leaves a nagging sense of missed opportunity where someone with vision could have made a big difference to the world we have today. Instead someone with little vision made a big difference to the world we have today, but not for the better.

V8 Fettler

7,019 posts

131 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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JuanCarlosFandango said:
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Reagan
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Reagan said:
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Piha

7,150 posts

91 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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citizensm1th said:
Jockman said:
Mo?
Very principled which is why she missed out imo.

But her or Smith would have been good I think
+ 1 for Mo.

A wonderful person that put personal opinions to one side to get what was good for society. Fair, approachable and yet firm, and seemed to earn respect from all that encountered her.

Her premature passing was our loss.

RJG46

980 posts

67 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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Alan Johnson.

Jockman

17,912 posts

159 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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RJG46 said:
Alan Johnson.
clap

One of only 3 labour candidates I would have been tempted to vote for.

Short Grain

2,743 posts

219 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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Piha said:
citizensm1th said:
Jockman said:
Mo?
Very principled which is why she missed out imo.

But her or Smith would have been good I think
+ 1 for Mo.

A wonderful person that put personal opinions to one side to get what was good for society. Fair, approachable and yet firm, and seemed to earn respect from all that encountered her.

Her premature passing was our loss.
+2 for Mo! An Honest MP. She had respect from all sides. She seemed to have real empathy and grafted to get the best for all. Not many, if any, like her around today!

A Sad Loss!

Sa Calobra

37,011 posts

210 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
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Michael Portillo