Who was the worst prime minister of modern times? Answers to such a question cannot but be subjective. But whenever this issue is discussed, the name John Major seems to crop up with greater frequency than the man himself would probably relish. A 2006 article in BBC History magazine, for instance, rates him above only Neville Chamberlain and Anthony Eden.
The charge sheets against the latter two can be summed up in one place name apiece; ‘Munich’ and ‘Suez’ respectively. Nothing that Major - pictured - has ever done in his life has been of that order of historic magnitude.
This guy didn’t cynically carve up Czechoslovakia, or even make a complete Horlicks of the invasion of a third rate third world dictatorship by not getting permission from Uncle Sam first. Here was a man who considered the national cones hotline to be the defining moment of his premiership, remember. But there were bungles aplenty.
There was Black Wednesday, for a start. Many commentators, especially on the eurosceptic right will never forgive him for Maastricht, although as a soft europhile myself I can’t really see where they are coming from.
Yet the malaise that surrounded the government during the Major years could not be attributed to one or two single issues, however weighty. The miasma of mediocrity was more pervasive than that.
The over-riding impression was one of a teacher out his depth, completely unable to control the naughty boys at the back of the class. The Bastards, the bonkers and the hardcore Thatcherite wrecking crew were accordingly given the run of the school. As the late Labour MP Tony Banks memorably quipped:
He was a fairly competent chairman of Housing [on Lambeth Council]. Every time he gets up now I keep thinking, ‘what on earth is councillor Major doing?’ I can't believe he’s here and sometimes I think he can’t either.
Of course, the BBC History rankings predate the time Gordon Brown finally got the set of keys Cherie reckons he constantly rattled over Tony’s head. So today I asking readers to comment on where they would insert the incumbent in the rankings.
It struck me this morning that there are certain parallels between the Major and Brown. Most obviously, both became unelected prime ministers after succeeding rather more charismatic predecessors who had won three elections on the trot. To be fair, the Tories were returned to office under Major’s leadership in 1992; it’s now looking doubtful whether Brown can repeat the trick for Labour.
Both give the appearance of being beleaguered PMs, holed up in a bunker and essentially powerless in the face of incoming flack. Brown has even acquired his own set of Bastards. Frank Field and friends now fulfill the same symbolic purpose as Teresa Gorman and that whackjob backbencher bloke from Northampton North, although they are mercifully not quite so obviously unhinged.
But there is one comparison that clearly doesn’t come out in Brown’s favour. In 1995, Major attempted to assert his authority – and the word is assert rather than reassert, because he never had much to begin with – by resigning the party leadership and inviting his critics to stand a candidate against him.
In the event, Major won by 218 votes to John Redwood’s 89, with 12 spoiled ballots and ten abstentions. The gambit didn’t quite work; even that margin was deemed unconvincing, and the removal vans were pulling up at Number Ten just two years later.
Would Brown – who, remember, secured the Labour leadership by coronation without putting his popularity to the test – have the guts to do the same? And would it make any difference if he did? Comments, please.
Posted at 14:17, 12 May 2008
Comments (10)
Clearly Dave, by the early 90's you had no worries about unemployment, etc, because Major was also responsible for bringing in the very nasty Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) which made life even harder for millions on benefits. I was a mature student at the time and still campaigned against it, the majority of the left didn't, (though the SP did.)
Tbh, it is just like now where a tired Govt now under Brown in the absence of imaginative policies is bashing the poor and bringing in more ruthless welfare reform and today's left remains largely silent, no wonder it is failing...
As it goes frenetic, I was made redundant in the early 1990s recession. I became a freelance journalist; JSA was so low that if I sold one news story a week for £50, I wasn't entitled to any. And being as I sold one or two even in the worst weeks, there was no point in claiming.
If Brown was interested in putting his popularity to the test, he wouldn't have had his goons phoning round threatening and bullying undecided MPs into not signing John McDonnell's nomination papers.
I must say I am shocked to read yet another posting from frenetic/treelover/etc having a go at "the left"...
> Major was also responsible for bringing in the very nasty Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)
I would argue Major's single worst policy was Rail Privatisation. Not even Thatch tried that one (although possibly only because Nicholas Ridley told her that it'd be a disaster).
I think you're in danger of descending into Westminster Village/Andrew Marr-style analysis about individuals' charisma and the like here Dave. Major, for all his lack of charisma and ordinary-bloke-who-loves-his-cricket demeanour, presided over an administration that (aside from Europe) consolidated and accelerated the Thatcherite settlement. And that's where the main parallel with Brown is: he too is less charismatic than his predecessor but in terms of policy he is cut from the same cloth as Blair. He too has not changed policy direction, and that's why he's now bereft of allies.
The more focus is put on the tittle-tattle of the backbench 'plotters', be they Field or Charles Clarke or whoever, the more the essentials get obscured. Brown's attacking workers and kissing corporate arse - that's why he's crap, needs to be taken on and is vying with the "worst" PMs (though in truth there's been plenty worse), not because of his lack of charisma or poll ratings.
something else about the Major years that has some parallels - it was around that time that the Tory Party on the ground, which had previously been a formidable electoral force, disintegrated so that by 1997 they had hardly anyone to leaflet, sit at polling stations, etc, even in traditionally Tory areas. Their loss of councillors contributed to this. Only now do they seem to be recovering their forces.
Sounds familiar to the Labour Party now?
It took 2 years for Major to implode with the ERM. It's taken Brown a year to implode in a variety of ways (calling off the election; data loss at Inland Revenue; the 10p debacle, 42 day detention).
It was only July 1989 when Major assumed "one of the great offices of state", so he was able to be a clean skin when he took over from Thatcher, at least clean enough to win in 1992. That simply isn't possible for Brown who had so much sway over the domestic economy and government spending for 10 years as Chancellor.
Brown didn't pick a decent cabinet. Where is the 'friendly' face to explain tough policies to the masses in a calm and reassuring manner. Like a doctor with the patient it needs to be compassionate and no-nonsense. Clear definition of the problem, set of choices, highlighting clearly the necessary option.
Instead he does it all himself. And he is dreadful at it.
Major was a 'harmonising' choice. A unifying PM for the fractured wings of the party. The stronger leaders could never take power over their rivals.
Brown.. well he was THE ONLY choice. He was 'elected' as a I'll be a lot better than Tony.. no more wars, more socialism a bit more Left thinking.
He's not the substitute teacher [great image there] like Major.
More like one of those political panelists on have I got news or such like. They tell a 'pre scripted' joke, and then look really surprised when no one laughs.
'An end to spin' and then spins like Blair but has that same surprised panellist look when it fails to work.
Trouble is Gordon.. Tony was a master at it.
Brown will always be Derek Hatton to Blair's Paul Merton.
If Brown fails to reach the election, or he reaches it and loses, then he is the worst PM by default, having never won anything and taken a winning party to defeat. If he makes it then he can battle it out for 2nd worst with John Major, who at least won one before a catastrophic exit.
I think you're in danger of descending into Westminster Village/Andrew Marr-style analysis about individuals' charisma and the like here Dave.
Disagree. Brown's effortless anti-charisma is a political phenomenon that transcends the present structural problems of the Labour party. Commentators on this matter are divided into two categories: those who get this and those who don't. I think this can be illustrated with the comparisons Dave uses. Comparing Brown to Major is unfair, to Major, that is. There's a lot of differences but two very important ones spring to mind:
1) Major was more popular than his party - something that his Eurosceptic enemies never seemed to grasp. Brown is not more popular than his party.
2) Major won an election, let's not forget. And it was him wot won it - with his virtue of not being Thatcher and scrapping the poll tax - this is what did it. Brown is in present form unlikely to win an election.
Statistically the comparison with Chamberlain is more apt: Brown's ratings have collapsed in a similar way - and all this without sacrificing the Czech nation. Brown is an unprecedented disaster - to an extent that we are struggling to find an apt comparison from a period of over a hundred years. He is a tragic figure in a way Major never was.
I think the Major comparison is significant because it illustrates the way the left consistently underestimates its enemy. And if it is still doing this with regards to Major, how much more is it doing it now with Cameron? It's doing it a lot - as we can see in all these posts dismissing him as an insubstantial Etonian fop. There's a lot of reasons why Labour might lose the next election but this sort of complacency - a complacency that still exists despite the evidence - is certainly one of them. I would also insist that this sort of attitude is made in Scotland and has very little to do with 'New Labour'.
And yet he brough in the good friday agreement the one much vaulted by Blair.
He like a curry or two after a hard days work sadly his wife did not see the funny side.
But when you loook at Major and Brown you say god forgive New labour because they are the worse, under Brown.