Good Prime Ministers we never had
Discussion
By way of expanding the Good Prime Ministers thread, what politicians have there been that would have made good ones but never had the chance?
I always thought Michael Heseltine had the gravitas and chutzpah to be a good one.
And by way of balance, whilst not my politics, I did have a lot of respect for Tony Benn and thought he'd make a decent leader.
I always thought Michael Heseltine had the gravitas and chutzpah to be a good one.
And by way of balance, whilst not my politics, I did have a lot of respect for Tony Benn and thought he'd make a decent leader.
Michael Heseltine was an incredibly flakey politician with no track record of achieving anything, despite an unusually long political career. He also managed to go from 'impetuous young turk' to 'old fogey' with an incredibly short period of 'in his prime-ness'. I like Michael a lot and he is extremely knowledgeable and sensible in a number of areas but he would have been a terrible PM.
William Hague could have been very good although he came to the leadership of the Tory party far too young.
Jack Straw could have been an effective labour MP
It would be interesting to see how either RAB Butler or Quintin Hogg would have fared compared to Alec Douglas-Home in 1963-4
William Hague could have been very good although he came to the leadership of the Tory party far too young.
Jack Straw could have been an effective labour MP
It would be interesting to see how either RAB Butler or Quintin Hogg would have fared compared to Alec Douglas-Home in 1963-4
I always thought WIlliam Hague should have been given a chance, he was Leader of Conservatives, perhaps too young and not in the best position to challenge Blair after the nation tired of the Tories.
He certainly seemed a really solid Foreign Secretary fro Cameron, was a good speaker/debater and a reliable cabinet minister. To me, always spoke sense and could stand up for himself. IN recent times he certainly is the sort of politician we need a lot more of.
However from an early peak (leader of the party at 36) I wonder if the kind of revelations, such as the relationship with his male "advisor" was too much of a skeleton in the cupboard to get the top job.
His cringey attempts at trying to be one of the people (drinking 14 pints by lunchtime) probably didn't endear him either.
He certainly seemed a really solid Foreign Secretary fro Cameron, was a good speaker/debater and a reliable cabinet minister. To me, always spoke sense and could stand up for himself. IN recent times he certainly is the sort of politician we need a lot more of.
However from an early peak (leader of the party at 36) I wonder if the kind of revelations, such as the relationship with his male "advisor" was too much of a skeleton in the cupboard to get the top job.
His cringey attempts at trying to be one of the people (drinking 14 pints by lunchtime) probably didn't endear him either.
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.
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.
Conservatives under John Major in 1997 were imploding and were in no position to man up against a paper tissue. You’re forgetting how devastatingly effective New Labour were in targeting the centre ground.
ClaphamGT3 said:
Michael Heseltine was an incredibly flakey politician with no track record of achieving anything, despite an unusually long political career. He also managed to go from 'impetuous young turk' to 'old fogey' with an incredibly short period of 'in his prime-ness'...
Weirdly my scouse father in law and old school Labour type thinks he's the nuts and credits him with the regeneration of Liverpool in defiance of the Government of which he was a part. He was recently given the freedom of the City. A Tory MP being given the freedom of Liverpool by a Labour council! He had a heart attack in 1993 which took the wind out of his sails otherwise I think he would have easily beaten the series of lightweights to PM that we've had since. Still that doesn't mean he would have been any good...Jockman said:
Smith never possessed the charisma of Blair. Unlikely he would have been as electable.
Conservatives under John Major in 1997 were imploding and were in no position to man up against a paper tissue. You’re forgetting how devastatingly effective New Labour were in targeting the centre ground.
I think Smith would have gained support without the slime that surrounded Blair. Conservatives under John Major in 1997 were imploding and were in no position to man up against a paper tissue. You’re forgetting how devastatingly effective New Labour were in targeting the centre ground.
Blair was undoubtedly effective in winning elections, but that's not to say nobody else couldn't have been, and possibly without the downsides. It's also not to say that Blair was good for the country (though he was undoubtedly good for Blair).
Sadly I suspect we're a bit stuck with politics at the moment and probably have been since Thatcher's day.
Maybe what the country actually needs is someone like McDonnell in the hot seat, an anti-Thatcher. Blow out the cobwebs for a bit and reset.
The downside with that idea being the amount of damage McDonnell would definitely do even in one term
I'm not sure middle ground politics is actually healthy with respect to resolving some of the major problems this country has to face over the next few decades (NHS, state pensions, state benefits etc). Politicians across Europe seem to have become adept at one thing only - can kicking.
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