Board 8 > Best Female British Prime Minister?

(+) Yeah! (+)

What great representation the UK has.

I'm amused by how easily Theresa May wins this by default, despite being horrible

You could probably make an argument for Truss purely because 'How much damage can you actually do in 44 days?'

I mean she still managed to do a lot but when listed against the negatives of the other two, the list is at least shorter

I'm not British and don't follow much of anything British post-1776, but isn't Margaret Thatcher pretty iconic? Did she do some horrible stuff I know nothing about?

azuarc posted...

I'm not British and don't follow much of anything British post-1776, but isn't Margaret Thatcher pretty iconic? Did she do some horrible stuff I know nothing about?

the word you're looking for is infamous, and evidently yes

"i don't know much about america but i thought nixon was pretty well known?"

imagine reagan without the charisma debatable Cold War chops with an even bigger hard-on for fucking over labor

Thatcher privatised massive amounts of industry, centralised the economy on London while just letting large parts of the north die economically, enormously increased inequality, enormously increased poverty, devastates the housing supply leading to the current crisis, cracked down on Labour, sent the army in on striking miners, and so on. The only reason she survived so long was a conveniently timed defensive war and an opposition that spent more time fighting itself than her. One of the very worst PMs in terms of impact though the fact that Truss may have managed to top her in just 45 days is truly impressive. Also, always magnetically attracts weird American fanboys who defend her online despite never having to have lived with the impacts of what she did.

May wins by default.

They're all awful people who implemented cruel policies that made lives worse, so Truss by default I guess for having the shortest reign. Also she killed Liz2 and maybe destroyed the Conservative party for a few years so maybe she was a leftist all along.

LightningStrikes posted...

Thatcher privatised massive amounts of industry, centralised the economy on London while just letting large parts of the north die economically, enormously increased inequality, enormously increased poverty, devastates the housing supply leading to the current crisis, cracked down on Labour, sent the army in on striking miners, and so on. The only reason she survived so long was a conveniently timed defensive war and an opposition that spent more time fighting itself than her. One of the very worst PMs in terms of impact though the fact that Truss may have managed to top her in just 45 days is truly impressive. Also, always magnetically attracts weird American fanboys who defend her online despite never having to have lived with the impacts of what she did.

May wins by default.

what had truss done that is still in place?

The economic damage from just the announcement of her plans that will take years to recover from. Peoples mortgages didnt go back down. Also, most of her cabinet is still around including the one who resigned for a breach of ministerial code then got almost immediately invited back by Sunak. It is a truly horrendous cabinet and he kept it largely in tact. Just today Trusss choice of foreign secretary was out there defending Qatar.

So yeah Truss herself is gone but her impacts will be felt for a long time. The only good news is that she may have brought the Tories down too this time.

Theresa May wins by default unfortunately. Thatcher and Truss destroyed us for years, although I never thought anyone could do it in 6 weeks!

NFUN posted...

what had truss done that is still in place?

the queen is still dead

LightningStrikes posted...

Also, always magnetically attracts weird American fanboys who defend her online despite never having to have lived with the impacts of what she did.

I'm not a fanboy. I heard her talked about when I was a kid and she was the longest-serving PM. Her name was better known to me than Winston Churchhill's. But I was a kid, so fuck if I knew what she did, and if you think American school systems teach anything at all about other countries over the last two centuries unless America was fighting a war against them, well, lol. And as a kid, most of the time it was like, "See? There are countries who have had a woman as head of state," using her as a prime example.

So thank you all for educating me, if only a little, but...

Steiner posted...

"i don't know much about america but i thought nixon was pretty well known?"

Nixon was president for a far shorter time, and left office in disgrace so he wouldn't be removed by impeachment. Are they really comparable?

they're the default go-to for horrible leaders so comparable in that sense

also comparable in that as a brit i don't really know what the kerfuffle was, just that he's the go to there

azuarc posted...

I'm not a fanboy. I heard her talked about when I was a kid and she was the longest-serving PM. Her name was better known to me than Winston Churchhill's. But I was a kid, so fuck if I knew what she did, and if you think American school systems teach anything at all about other countries over the last two centuries unless America was fighting a war against them, well, lol. And as a kid, most of the time it was like, "See? There are countries who have had a woman as head of state," using her as a prime example.

So thank you all for educating me, if only a little, but...

Nixon was president for a far shorter time, and left office in disgrace so he wouldn't be removed by impeachment. Are they really comparable?

Nixon also has a significant number of people who think he was a great president with excellent policies. Just as Thatcher has a significant number of people who think she was a great PM with excellent policies. Reagan is in the same boat too, I think. People either think he was great or terrible.

NFUN posted...

what had truss done that is still in place?

If your messes are being fixed (are they?)
That does not mean you did better than others.

Steiner posted...

also comparable in that as a brit i don't really know what the kerfuffle was, just that he's the go to there

As if usual in cases like these, the kerfuffle that forced him out (Watergate) was actually one of the least bad things he did.

htaeD posted...

If your messes are being fixed (are they?)
That does not mean you did better than others.

I'd take somebody who tried burning down their house but got caught over somebody who succeeded!

Damn, we got some serious Thatcher haters in here

Any Thatcher lovers around to offer a counter perspective?

Lightning Strike's summary seems like someone who hates a politician and so everything they did is framed in a negative way, and that a significant amount of other people familiar with the topic wouldn't agree with.

Hell, the first two points seems like LS views as super negative, but I could imagine those being the first two points of a pro Thatcher post with no changes.

When thatcher died #nowthatcherisdead trended on Twitter. Ironically, most people know this because they misread it as Cher is dead

Ding dong the witch is dead was also very present when she died.

The privatisation and centralisation Thatcher made happen, would only be viewed as a positive if you
1) are a shareholder or beneficiary of a company that swooped in on that market. (Energy, rail, etc.)
2) are a wealthy London bubble dweller
3) have zero empathy for the amount of people hung out to dry by those decisions alone
4) are deluded
5) have been and will always be Tory. Regardless of the circumstances.

Pick as many as you want.

CoolCly posted...

Any Thatcher lovers around to offer a counter perspective?

no

KokoroAkechi posted...

When thatcher died #nowthatcherisdead trended on Twitter. Ironically, most people know this because they misread it as Cher is dead

This is hilarious.

KokoroAkechi posted...

When thatcher died #nowthatcherisdead trended on Twitter. Ironically, most people know this because they misread it as Cher is dead

oh god

LightningStrikes posted...

The economic damage from just the announcement of her plans that will take years to recover from. Peoples mortgages didnt go back down. Also, most of her cabinet is still around including the one who resigned for a breach of ministerial code then got almost immediately invited back by Sunak. It is a truly horrendous cabinet and he kept it largely in tact. Just today Trusss choice of foreign secretary was out there defending Qatar.

So yeah Truss herself is gone but her impacts will be felt for a long time. The only good news is that she may have brought the Tories down too this time.

What's so bad about Qatar? I mean, other than the slavery. And the trafficking of women and girls. And the lack of free speech. And the criminalization of homosexuality. And the jailing of unwed mothers. And the... on second thought, fuck whoever that foreign secretary is.

Thatcher was the "best" in that she was by far the most competent out of the three and the only one who won a majority. Truss wasn't elected, May never won a majority. She achieved pretty much everything she wanted to when she got into office including successfully swinging the Tory party, the opposition and the country itself itself further right than it was before her.

But as mentioned she was an outright horrible person responsible for so much poverty and inequality that can still be felt to this day.

May is the best of the three despite her lack of respect for human rights and her authoritarian stance on privacy. She did the least amount of long term damage and gets some sympathy for being tasked with the shitshow that was Brexit.

Haven't heard of May so that's how I voted >_>