Mount Suribachi
02-11-2005, 10:22
Walpole is regarded as the first PM, even the phrase had not been coined at that time. He ruled through a mixture of bribery, corruption and blackmail, which are hardly the standards of a great leader - though an effective one in his case.
I have never understood why Lloyd George is a hero to so many, but because he is he makes it onto the list
Sir Winston Churchill is not my choice for greatest PM. I regard him as our greatest ever politician for his 50 odd years of service including successful spells as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. I regard him as our greatest ever leader for what he did in WW2. I regard him as our greatest ever orator, for one cannot hear his great speeches without getting a tingle down your spine, and reading of his whole parliamentary career shows that his command and delivery of English was superb. I regard him as the greatest ever Briton for all this, plus his wonderful works of history and Nobel Prize for Literature. But I cannot regard him as our greatest ever Prime Minister. Towards the end of his first term he became less and less effective, he totally mis-judged the mood of the country n the post war election and when the Tories where re-elected a few years later he achieved little other than holding back Anthony Eden who should have been leading the tories by then (and who would have been a more effective and decisive leader had his confidence and self-belief not being crushed by being kept waiting in the wings for so long)
Margaret Thatcher is a real love her or loathe her PM. And I admit during her reign I loathed her ~D As time has gone on I have been able to appreciate more of some the things she did such as her taming of the Unions (though I don't agree with the way she went about totally breaking them). Certainly one of Britains strongest ever leaders, almost to a fault. To this day she never admits she got anything wrong, even such hideously unpopular ideas such as the Poll Tax. I think as time dims the memories of her polarising reign she will be viewed in a more objective light.
The jury is of course still out on Tony Blair, but for his reformation of the Labour Party after so long in opposition and for such a long reign, with such a big majority, he will surely go down in history as one of the great PMs.
For me the choice comes down to the 3 great social reformers - Gladstone, Disraeli and Atlee - one Liberal, one Conservative and one Labour. For me Gladstone wins out for 2 long spells as PM, for the great reforms his first Liberal government enacted, for trying so hard to find a settlement in Ireland and what pushes him over the edge for me is his Christian morality and the fact that he always tried to do what was right rather than what was politically expedient
I have never understood why Lloyd George is a hero to so many, but because he is he makes it onto the list
Sir Winston Churchill is not my choice for greatest PM. I regard him as our greatest ever politician for his 50 odd years of service including successful spells as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. I regard him as our greatest ever leader for what he did in WW2. I regard him as our greatest ever orator, for one cannot hear his great speeches without getting a tingle down your spine, and reading of his whole parliamentary career shows that his command and delivery of English was superb. I regard him as the greatest ever Briton for all this, plus his wonderful works of history and Nobel Prize for Literature. But I cannot regard him as our greatest ever Prime Minister. Towards the end of his first term he became less and less effective, he totally mis-judged the mood of the country n the post war election and when the Tories where re-elected a few years later he achieved little other than holding back Anthony Eden who should have been leading the tories by then (and who would have been a more effective and decisive leader had his confidence and self-belief not being crushed by being kept waiting in the wings for so long)
Margaret Thatcher is a real love her or loathe her PM. And I admit during her reign I loathed her ~D As time has gone on I have been able to appreciate more of some the things she did such as her taming of the Unions (though I don't agree with the way she went about totally breaking them). Certainly one of Britains strongest ever leaders, almost to a fault. To this day she never admits she got anything wrong, even such hideously unpopular ideas such as the Poll Tax. I think as time dims the memories of her polarising reign she will be viewed in a more objective light.
The jury is of course still out on Tony Blair, but for his reformation of the Labour Party after so long in opposition and for such a long reign, with such a big majority, he will surely go down in history as one of the great PMs.
For me the choice comes down to the 3 great social reformers - Gladstone, Disraeli and Atlee - one Liberal, one Conservative and one Labour. For me Gladstone wins out for 2 long spells as PM, for the great reforms his first Liberal government enacted, for trying so hard to find a settlement in Ireland and what pushes him over the edge for me is his Christian morality and the fact that he always tried to do what was right rather than what was politically expedient