The best Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the past 50 years?

[Phony Moderate]

The Iron Lady.

On a side note, how'd Gordon Brown outpoll Tony Blair?

Frankly, it's astounding that a man who's now the retainer of a Central Asian dictator has received any votes at all.

Not really, considering this is the Atlas Forum, where being liberal is all you need to be considered a hero.

Blair isn't a liberal, and nor is/was any other Labour PM...

[BaconBacon96]

Harold Wilson.

[The Dowager Mod]

The KGB stooge.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

The Iron Lady.

On a side note, how'd Gordon Brown outpoll Tony Blair?

Frankly, it's astounding that a man who's now the retainer of a Central Asian dictator has received any votes at all.

Not really, considering this is the Atlas Forum, where being liberal is all you need to be considered a hero.

Blair isn't a liberal, and nor is/was any other Labour PM...

Are you using liberal in the British or American sense of the word? Because Harold Wilson would easily fit the American description, from what I know about him.

[pendragon]

One might point out that the Tories had been in decline in Scotland for >25 years before Thatcher, and the Tories had better election results in Scotland in the three elections under her leadership than in any of the five subsequent elections. And more mines closed under Wilson than Thatcher!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

One might point out that the Tories had been in decline in Scotland for >25 years before Thatcher, and the Tories had better election results in Scotland in the three elections under her leadership than in any of the five subsequent elections.

A political party that has lost widespread credibility can survive for surprisingly long off the votes of pensioners who have always voted that way; the end only comes when they start to die off. As true of the Scottish Tories as the French Communists...

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A fact commonly repeated by internet knowitalls, but one that misses the point. In the 1960s the National Coal Board shut down most older collieries in an attempt to 'rationalise' the industry (the money 'saved' from this was then ploughed into newer pits). The Wilson government's only real involvement was an attempt to soften the blow; it spent large amounts of public money on building advance factories in areas hit by pit closures. Most of these shut in the recession of the early 1980s. In the 1980s, however, the Thatcher government decided to destroy the industry for political reasons and was entirely successful in this endeavour. The Major government finished the job.

[Vega]

Going out on a limb and saying Wilson; keeping the UK out of Vietnam is really something he should get more credit for.

[Cory]

Wilson was the best, but I can't dispute the fact that Thatcher was the most consequential since Attlee or even Churchill (during his first term).

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Wilson.

[RR1997]

The Iron Lady.

[Lumine]

This is a bit off-topic, but whenever I read about British Prime Minister it always surprises me that many of them where very unlikely choices, who got into power due to curious circumstances (and often incredible amounts of luck) while stronger candidates never got the job. I know that also happens in America a lot (I'm looking at you, Jimmy Carter), but I find it more surprising in British politcs.

Douglas Home would have never been Prime Minister without Macmillan resigning, Major only got into power thanks to the unexpected events of November 1990, Cameron came out of nowhere and Ted Heath won an election that Harold Wilson couldn't lose...

[Spamage]

The Iron Lady.

[Colbert]

that's sadistic to not include McMillan on the list. I can't decently choose Douglas-Home or Wilson.

[Peeperkorn]

Maggie.

[Mr. Smith]

Wilson, though I respect much about Callaghan.