Who was the best Prime Minister of the UK post-1945

@Burnley123 I can't remember how many voted for her. I can't see the percentage. Certainly not me, that's for sure! 😱

@Burnley123 I didn't vote at all - my views of Maggie Thatcher are very mixed. As I said elsewhere on this I don't think she was responsible for starting the 80s selfishness, she just climbed on a bandwagon which was already brewing (mixed metaphors!) and became synonymous with it.

Privatisation of utilities etc should have been possible following the French model where the State owns 50% of a company (like Renault) giving the benefits of both public and private. I doubt you'll agree but in my opinion in the 1970s most State-run enterprises were bloated and inefficient - but I'm not defending a profit-motive either.

@ArtieKat It's Thatcher's fiscal contractionary policies and anti trade union attitude that were her biggest problems.

A 1970s Labour attitude to housing would be what's needed today.

@BritishFailedAesthetic What was Labour's policy in the 1970s on housing? I can't remember.

@ArtieKat I thought they were encouraging the building of more houses- I may be wrong.

@ArtieKat She captured the zeitgeist. Her first term of office was relatively moderate and uncontroversial. It was the Falklands War, the implosion of the Labour opposition, and her manipulation of the Transatlantic partnership that enabled her to become more radical.

@Burnley123 I'm not surprised about the support for either Thatcher or Blair. They are totemic to many on the right and left. Objectively speaking and putting aside judgment of their political ideologies, I think both qualify as exceptional leaders.

Pleased that Attlee is on top so far. Perhaps not coincidental in NHS anniversary year.

@SunshineGirl
[quote] her manipulation of the Transatlantic partnership that enabled her to become more radical.[/quote]

True

@SunshineGirl Oh yes, they were both very charismatic and capable leaders. Attlee famously wasn't. He just happened to be the guy in the spot at the time.

@Burnley123 I'm surprised - a little - that you didn't comment on
[quote]I'm not surprised about the support for either Thatcher or Blair. They are totemic to many on the right and left. [/quote] Certainly in retrospect most on the left of Labour have disowned Blair and "New Labour", haven't they?

@ArtieKat [quote]Certainly in retrospect most on the left of Labour have disowned Blair and "New Labour", haven't they?[/quote]

Yes, the Labour left hates Blair and I would know. It's interesting that nobody calls themselves a Blairite anymore and that term is only ever used as an insult by the left. The Iraq War cemented his legacy.

There were some good things New Labour did: like devolution, Good Friday, minimum wage generous money for schools and hospitals etc.

Bad things: Iraq and Afghanistan, PFI, introducing tuition fees and deregulation of the city (that left us prone to a financial clash).

There were also plenty of leftwing things that Balr could have done but didn't

Starmer's people are very much New Labour and they will almost certainly win a majority but do nothing with it. You can make a case that Starmer is actually to the right of Blair.

@Burnley123 Thanks for confirming what I thought.

@Burnley123 Well, we can only hope...

@JasminD A lot of left-leaning people who don't follow Labour's internal politics are going to be disappointed. People just want to get rid of the Tories and *hope* that Starmer will be better. I get it. Nobody thinks that he is as lefty as Corbyn but they are hoping for a decent centre-left government.

Starmer ran for party leader on a Corbyn-light platform but has already rolled back on all of his team 'pledges'. He also said he would unite the party and do away with factionalism. He and his people have spent the last few years purging Corbynites at every level of the party. They have even purged some prominent centre-left people, like the mayor of Tyneside and the director of Compass. If you aren't on the right of the party then you have no place in it, is the message. Starmer and Reeves have spent all of their time making cases against left-wing policies. There is little or no difference between Starmer/Reeves and Sunak/Hunt.

I wish this was not true.

@Burnley123 You might be right. I hope he grows into it, if Labour do get in. It might lead to growing confidence and more challenging and progressive policies.

@JasminD They don't want to.

A lot of people think like you and I wish you were right but there is almost no chance of that.

@Burnley123 [quote]I wish you were right but there is almost no chance of that.[/quote]

What I find most interesting - as a non-partisan with an interest in politics - is this disconnect between policies which will make Labour electable and those which your fellow-travellers would pursue. Since the election of Michael Foot as Labour leader it's been shown time and time again that that is not what a majority of the electorate want.

Incidentally, I've not seen any comparison between "Two-Jags" and Angela Rayner as being the token leftist representatives at the top of the PLP.

@ArtieKat I didn't vote for Starmer as party leader but I did take at face value the idea that he would try to unite the party and also have some decent policies.

I'd accept a compromise in a heartbeat but this is not it. Im not setting a high bar. If he'd sold out on half of his pledges instead of all of them, if he was ignoring the left instead of purging us...

Raynor or Burnham would be a comprehensive muse that I could support.

I'm still going to vote for labour but I'll do nothing to campaign for people who don't want me in the party and do nothing on policy.

@Burnley123 I accept your viewpoint - none of it comes as any surprise to me, Keir Starmer's perfidy included.

@Burnley123 Public opinion has shifted to the right. Starmer is attempting the capture the middle ground. Therefore I suppose it is natural that he sits somewhat to the right of Blair.

I am left leaning. Blair's government was a breath of fresh air after the reactionary government and stagnation of ideas in the 1990s. So one of the best things about it was that it was not Conservative. Having a socially progressive, young and optimistic government was a virtue in itself.

I hate the autocratic managerial style of the modern Labour party, but I do have rather more faith in the integrity and vision of Starmer (based on his career as a public servant), if only they are zble to see the light of day once in office.

@SunshineGirl Ok.

@Burnley123