Top 20 c.20th Prime Ministers

[Democratic Hawk]

On the basis of the responses of 139 British academics the results, in reverse order, were as follows:

20) Anthony Eden (Con) - 1955-57
19) Alec Douglas-Home (Con) - 1963-64
18) Arthur Balfour (Con) - 1902-05
17) Neville Chamberlian (Con) - 1937-40
16) Andrew Bonar Law (Con) - 1922-23
15) John Major (Con) - 1990-97
14) Ramsay MacDonald (Lab, Nat) - 1924; 1929-31; 1931-35
13) Edward Heath (Con) - 1970-74
12) James Callgahan (Lab) - 1976-79
11) Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lib) - 1906-08
10) Lord Salisbury (Con) - 1895-1902
9) Harold Wilson (Lab) - 1964-70; 1974-76
Stanley Baldwin (Con) - 1923-24; 1924-29; 1935-37
7) Herbert Asquith (Lib) - 1908-16
6) Tony Blair (Lab) - 1997 -
5) Harold MacMillan (Con) - 1957-63 (that last Tory could have voted for1)
4) Margaret Thatcher (Con) - 1979-90
3) David Lloyd George (Lib) - 1916-22
2) Winston Churchill (Con) - 1940-45; 1951-55
1) CLEMENT ATLEE (Lab) - 1945-51

Any thoughts!

Dave

[patrick1]

Clement Atlee #1 that is bollocks.

[CARLHAYDEN]

The first twelve were reasonably good, the rest weren't worth a warm pitcher of spit.

1.) Winston S Churchill (greatest 20th century statesman)
2.) Lady Thatcher (saved the UK from the morass of socialism)
3.) Sir Anthony Eden (the UK's version of Eisenhower)
4.) MacMillan
5.) Campbell-Bannerman
6.) Asquith
7.) Major
8.) Douglas-Home
9.) Balfour
10.) Bonar Law
11.) Blair
12.) Lord Salisbury

[Peter]

I disagree with the academics, here's my ranking:

1. David Lloyd George (Lib) 1916-22
2. Winston Churchill (Con) 1940-5, 51-5
3. Harold Macmillan (Con) 1957-63
4. Clement Attlee (Lab) 1945-51
5. Margaret Thatcher (Con) 1979-90
6. Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lib) 1906-8
7. Herbert Asquith (Lib) 1908-16
8. Anthony Blair (Lab) 1997-Date
9. Harold Wilson (Lab) 1964-70, 74-6
10. Ramsay MacDonald (Lab) 1924, 1929-31, 31-35
11. Stanley Baldwin (Con) 1923-24, 24-29, 35-37
12. James Callaghan (Lab) 1976-9
13. Lord Salisbury (Con) 1895-1902
14. John Major (Con) 1990-97
15. Andrew Bonar Law, Con 1922-23
16. Neville Chamberlain, Con 1937-40
17. Arthur Balfour, Con 1902-05
18. Anthony Eden, Con 1955-57
19. Edward Heath, Con 1970-74
20. Alec Douglas-Home, Con 1963-64

Interesting that I think that the Tory party produced the 8 worst PMs of the 20th Century, though they obviously produced some better ones as well. Lloyd George is by far and a way the best PM of the 20th century, and comes a close second to Benjamin Disraeli in the all-time stakes.

[Democratic Hawk]

Personally, Churchill would be my number 1. Then Attlee and Lloyd George because they were visionary and progressive social reformers

The only one on that list I have an overwhelming disdain for are Margaret Thatcher. I might have disliked more, had I been around at the time!

I forgot to give them their scores (so I'll do it for the top 5) plus Blair:

1) Attlee: 8.34
2) Churchill: 7.88
3) Lloyd George: 7.33
4) Margaret Thatcher: 7.14
5) Harold Macmillan: 6.49
6) Tony Blair: 6.30

Dave

[Democratic Hawk]

Just forget to mention, I'm glad we had Thatcher though - she's a reminder of how truly awful the Conservatives were!

Dave

[Democratic Hawk]

The first twelve were reasonably good, the rest weren't worth a warm pitcher of spit.

2.) Lady Thatcher (saved the UK from the morass of socialism)

Since when was the UK socialist? We might have been moderately social democratic once over

Dave

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Thatcher=She-Demon

I posted a graph of unemployment figures a looooooong time ago... see if I can find it...

[Richard]

An empty taxi arrived at 10 Downing Street, and, when the door was opened, Attlee got out.



Churchill and Thatcher.  Take your pick for #1 and #2.

[Platypus]

We've only had 20th century Prime Minister (federation in 1991; Howard was elected before 2000); and i'm not going to rank them all-but of the most recent era (72-present) I rank them Whitlam-Fraser-Keating-Hawke-Howard.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

under no circumstances is neville going to be near the top20 hes at the very bottom

[J. J.]

On the basis of the responses of 139 British academics the results, in reverse order, were as follows:

20) Anthony Eden (Con) - 1955-57
19) Alec Douglas-Home (Con) - 1963-64
18) Arthur Balfour (Con) - 1902-05
17) Neville Chamberlian (Con) - 1937-40
16) Andrew Bonar Law (Con) - 1922-23
15) John Major (Con) - 1990-97
14) Ramsay MacDonald (Lab, Nat) - 1924; 1929-31; 1931-35
13) Edward Heath (Con) - 1970-74
12) James Callgahan (Lab) - 1976-79
11) Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lib) - 1906-08
10) Lord Salisbury (Con) - 1895-1902
9) Harold Wilson (Lab) - 1964-70; 1974-76
Stanley Baldwin (Con) - 1923-24; 1924-29; 1935-37
7) Herbert Asquith (Lib) - 1908-16
6) Tony Blair (Lab) - 1997 -
5) Harold MacMillan (Con) - 1957-63 (that last Tory could have voted for1)
4) Margaret Thatcher (Con) - 1979-90
3) David Lloyd George (Lib) - 1916-22
2) Winston Churchill (Con) - 1940-45; 1951-55
1) CLEMENT ATLEE (Lab) - 1945-51

Any thoughts!

Dave

In two words HA HA!

1. Winston Churchill (Con) - 1940-45; 1951-55
2. Lady Thatcher 1979-90
3. Herbert Asquith (Lib) - 1908-16
4. Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lib) - 1906-08
5. Harold Wilson (Lab) - 1964-70; 1974-76
6. 5. Lord Salisbury (Con) - 1895-1902 (He was more of 19th Century figure)
7. CLEMENT ATLEE (Lab) - 1945-51
8. Tony Blair (Lab) - 1997 -
9. David Lloyd George (Lib) - 1916-22
10.  Ramsay MacDonald (Lab, Nat) - 1924; 1929-31; 1931-35
11. Edward Heath (Con) - 1970-74
12. Harold MacMillan (Con) - 1957-63
13. Stanley Baldwin (Con) - 1923-24; 1924-29; 1935-37
14. John Major (Con) - 1990-97
15.  Arthur Balfour (Con) - 1902-05
16.  James Callgahan (Lab) - 1976-79
17. Andrew Bonar Law (Con) - 1922-23
18. Alec Douglas-Home (Con) - 1963-64
19. Anthony Eden (Con) - 1955-57
20. Neville Chamberlian (Con) - 1937-40

[Gustaf]

My list would look more like this, I think.

20) Alec Douglas-Home (Con) - 1963-64
19) Neville Chamberlian (Con) - 1937-40
18) Andrew Bonar Law (Con) - 1922-23
17) Anthony Eden (Con) - 1955-57
16) Edward Heath (Con) - 1970-74
15) Arthur Balfour (Con) - 1902-05
14) John Major (Con) - 1990-97
13) Ramsay MacDonald (Lab, Nat) - 1924; 1929-31; 1931-35
12) James Callgahan (Lab) - 1976-79
11) Stanley Baldwin (Con) - 1923-24; 1924-29; 1935-37
10) Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lib) - 1906-08
9) Lord Salisbury (Con) - 1895-1902
Herbert Asquith (Lib) - 1908-16
7) Harold Wilson (Lab) - 1964-70; 1974-76
6) Harold MacMillan (Con) - 1957-63
5) David Lloyd George (Lib) - 1916-22
4) Tony Blair (Lab) - 1997 -
3) CLEMENT ATLEE (Lab) - 1945-51
2) Margaret Thatcher (Con) - 1979-90
1) Winston Churchill (Con) - 1940-45; 1951-55

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Heresy! Heresy!

1. Clement Attlee
2. David Lloyd George
3. J Harold Wilson
4. L James Callaghan
5. Tony Blair/Henry Campbell-Bannerman
7. Winston Churchill*/Herbert Asquith
9. Harold Macmillan
10. J Ramsey MacDonald**
11. Anthony Eden
12. Lord Salisbury
13. Arthur Balfour
14. Stanley Baldwin
15. Edward Heath***
16. Margaret Thatcher
17. Alec Douglas-Home/Neville Chamberlain/John Major****

N/A: Andrew Bonar Law

Most British P.M's have been terrible...

*Would have been a lot lower if it wasn't for WWII (even then I think Cripps would have done a better job)... ah O.K... if we treat him as WWII ONLY he gets 3 or 4. Other stuff only, about 12...
**Expletive Deleted for post-'31...
***"Who runs Britain?" NOT YOU... would have been lower were it not for the EEC
****Three stuffed shirts not fit to be leader of a crooked district council, let alone P.M

[Silent Hunter]

What about *****?

[JohnFKennedy]

under no circumstances is neville going to be near the top20 hes at the very bottom

As these are the only twenty Prime Ministers the UK had in the 20th century, it would be quite an achievement to be outside the top 20 of the 20th century.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

even though there were only 20 he should be 21

[The Man From G.O.P.]

J.J. has it about right

[Silent Hunter]

My list of the post war PMs:

1. Attlee- creator or rather leader of the effort to build the welfare state.
2. Wilson- longest serving Labour PM of the century. Also responsible for a lot of good liberalisation i.e. death penalty abolition.
3. Thatcher- highly controversial. But two landslides and 11 years puts her here.
4. Blair- On his first term only, I put him here and I keep him based on current performance. His exact ranking won't be fixed until he leaves office (and probably not then).
5. Macmillian- Nice moustache.
6. Heath- He took us into the EEC and his final defeat wasn't too big. Last of the nice Tories.
7. Callaghan- distinctly underrated IMO. You try surviving for 3 years heading a minority government.
8. Churchill- Post-war, he didn't really do much. He couldn't even win the popular vote.
9. Major- It was always going to be a question of just how big the Labour majority was going to be in 1997. 1992 is a matter of debate as to whether Labour lost it or not.
10. Eden- superlatively bad.

N/A: Douglas-Home. Not on only a year. Method of choosing was fairly dodgy (last one really picked by the Queen). R A Butler could have been better.

[Beet]

I would put Thatcher at #2 above Wilson. What Atlee was to the years 1945-1970, Thatcher has been to 1980-now.