Andrew Baker MA gave us a fascinating canter through the 18 Prime Ministers who’ve served since the end of World War 2. These covered 12 Conservative and 6 Labour governments lead by 15 men and three women. Starting with Clement Attlee Andrew gave us a brief summary of their achievements and failures and the overall impact of their tenures, some of which were much farther reaching than we thought. These cameos were educational and some quite amusing.
Andrew then gave us a summary of the conditions for success as a Prime Minister:
1. You need 5-6 years to make an impact
2. Popularity tells us little
3. We’re less deferential to our leaders
4. Wars can cut both ways, compare Suez and Iraq with the Falklands
5. Losers are seldom forgiven.
We were then given a countdown of Andrew’s view of the greatest Prime Ministers. From Liz Truss (17) and Boris Johnson (16) through to Clem Attlee (2) and Margaret Thatcher (1). Andrew noted that the top two could be reversed depending on how you assess greatness. The talk gave us much to think about and we all learned from it.
Image from MOD Defence images.
