Which U.K. PM would be best at handling the covid crisis?
Which U.K. PM would be best at handling the covid crisis?

Poll: Which U.K. PM would be best at handling the covid crisis?

Total Members Polled: 179

Johnson: 14%
May: 2%
Cameron: 3%
Brown: 2%
Blair: 11%
Major: 4%
Thatcher: 54%
Wilson: 1%
Churchill: 7%
Attlee: 3%
Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
Who (with their best cabinet) do you think would be best at handling the coronavirus crisis. Assuming they all had access to the same resources, information, technology and funds etc.

loafer123

16,509 posts

239 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all

Thatcher;

Decisive.

Didn't accept failure.

Understood the economy.

Skilled scientist.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
where is the option "NONE"


The covid "crisis" cannot ever be handled by our current political system, simply because that is not how society works. We are a reactive society, not a pro-active one. It is litterally impossible for us to plan for everything, for every eventuality, for every event. From War, famine, pestulance, Climatic or extreme weather event, we can only do what seemed best at the time, and try to learn from it.


Politics today seems to have forgotten that, and somehow expects to be able to solve any problem with no downside, hence all the YES men who just spout impossible rubbish everytime they open the mouth.

biggbn

30,637 posts

244 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
Thatcher;

Decisive.

Didn't accept failure.

Understood the economy.

Skilled scientist.
This may surprise many, but to reply to the question alone, I also voted Thatcher for very similar reasons.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
I thought thatcher or Churchill myself as both seemed decisive and good in a complex crisis.




Zirconia

36,010 posts

308 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
Thatcher. Would have been great at q+a as well.

FourWheelDrift

91,952 posts

308 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, 25th and 28th Prime Minister. A good old war with France to take our minds off all these silly things.

philv

5,152 posts

238 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
No difference.

it isn't the pm or their party that creates the scientific advice, writes the tracking apps, creates or purchases the tests/protective equipment, etc, etc.

It is the structure below, the civil service, the health service, IT departments, etc, etc, etc.
If they are ste, there isn't much a pm can do.
They are a relative constant no matter which pm or party is in power.

Do you think Boris or Hancock personally spoke with some bloke in turkey about the faulty gowns?
Or that they stay up into the night writing tracking app software?

As for scientific advisers/experts.
They seem to contradict each other without clear consensus on a regular basis.


pequod

8,997 posts

162 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, 25th and 28th Prime Minister. A good old war with France to take our minds off all these silly things.
I like your thinking, and all the current incumbent can do is refer to fighting a war against C19 and making sure the country remembers to 'celebrate' VE day!

Personally, I would suggest Lloyd George ... he knew my father, y'know!

loafer123

16,509 posts

239 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
Zirconia said:
Thatcher. Would have been great at q+a as well.
Peston would have been a quivering wreck on the floor after 5 minutes!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
pequod said:
Personally, I would suggest Lloyd George ... he knew my father, y'know!
Yeah I ran out of options for the poll, I included all the most recent ones to thatcher then got the top ones from various ‘best PM’ lists.

loafer123

16,509 posts

239 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
El stovey said:
Yeah I ran out of options for the poll, I included all the most recent ones to thatcher then got the top ones from various ‘best PM’ lists.
Interesting poll...what's your view?

JagLover

46,219 posts

259 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
On the basis of proven response to a similar dangerous virus Wilson.

Hong Kong Flu killed about as many as Coronavirus is ever likely to and we got through it without destroying the economy.

Second place to Thatcher because though she wasn't faced with such a threat she had the intelligence and nerve to do the right thing.

You should also have Macmillan on your poll as he is the only other PM to face a "named" dangerous Flu post WW2

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
El stovey said:
Yeah I ran out of options for the poll, I included all the most recent ones to thatcher then got the top ones from various ‘best PM’ lists.
Interesting poll...what's your view?
Thatcher or Churchill. I went for Churchill in the end.

loafer123

16,509 posts

239 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
El stovey said:
Thatcher or Churchill. I went for Churchill in the end.
A good choice...although he did make alot of mistakes, he got enough right.

JagLover

46,219 posts

259 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
philv said:
No difference.

it isn't the pm or their party that creates the scientific advice, writes the tracking apps, creates or purchases the tests/protective equipment, etc, etc.

It is the structure below, the civil service, the health service, IT departments, etc, etc, etc.
If they are ste, there isn't much a pm can do.
They are a relative constant no matter which pm or party is in power.

Do you think Boris or Hancock personally spoke with some bloke in turkey about the faulty gowns?
Or that they stay up into the night writing tracking app software?

As for scientific advisers/experts.
They seem to contradict each other without clear consensus on a regular basis.
Scientists advise politicians decide. Do you think Thatcher would take the product of Professor Pantsdown crude and broken model as being scientific truth?

pequod

8,997 posts

162 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
El stovey said:
Thatcher or Churchill. I went for Churchill in the end.
A good choice...although he did make alot of mistakes, he got enough right.
I don't disagree with you choices as they both had something which modern politicians lack... the conviction to make their own decision stick whatever the outcome.

Churchill was lucky, to a large degree, but nonetheless sacrificed many lives to achieve the ultimate challenge of winning a world war.

philv

5,152 posts

238 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
JagLover said:
philv said:
No difference.

it isn't the pm or their party that creates the scientific advice, writes the tracking apps, creates or purchases the tests/protective equipment, etc, etc.

It is the structure below, the civil service, the health service, IT departments, etc, etc, etc.
If they are ste, there isn't much a pm can do.
They are a relative constant no matter which pm or party is in power.

Do you think Boris or Hancock personally spoke with some bloke in turkey about the faulty gowns?
Or that they stay up into the night writing tracking app software?

As for scientific advisers/experts.
They seem to contradict each other without clear consensus on a regular basis.
Scientists advise politicians decide. Do you think Thatcher would take the product of Professor Pantsdown crude and broken model as being scientific truth?
Thatcher was a software expert?
How would she know the code/model is a pile of poo?
Would she ask to see the source code etc?

Thatcher was great.
But in this respect she is reliant on the experts.

If they let her down, such is life.



anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
loafer123 said:
El stovey said:
Thatcher or Churchill. I went for Churchill in the end.
A good choice...although he did make alot of mistakes, he got enough right.
Yeah and it was the reports about his ability to get to the root cause and want to understand the matter and then use that information to make decisive decisions that I thought would be important, plus his ability to keep morale high with great oratory skills.

Winston Churchill: How a flawed man became a great leader http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30934629



“ . . . . And of course once he was in power, his superb speeches inspired the country and kept it going.
Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, who recently published a book about Churchill, believes that it was Churchill's characteristic determination to go and find things out for himself that was a mark of his greatness.
"It's an illusion to think he was just a rhetorician, a guy who skated over the issues. He was deeply immersed in all the detail, and all the technicalities. And that helped him to get the right answer."


anonymous-user

Original Poster:

78 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
philv said:
Thatcher was a software expert?
How would she know the code/model is a pile of poo?
Would she ask to see the source code etc?

Thatcher was great.
But in this respect she is reliant on the experts.

If they let her down, such is life.
So you keep saying but I think most people realise there’s still a high level of management and decision making required from a government and a PM in particular during a crisis, so results will vary depending on who’s doing it.