Best/worst Head of Government in your lifetime

[Wouter D]

I only experienced four Prime Ministers of my country in my lifetime, and none of them were really absolutely terrible or fantastic. But, if I must:

Worst: Jan-Peter Balkenende. For being silly enough to head a coalition government with the clown car called Lijst Pim Fortuyn. It didn't last a year, and everybody knew that it would be a disaster from the beginning. He does get a bonus point for heading the only coalition government since 1994 that didn't include the VVD, but that's not enough for redemption.

Best: Mark Rutte. Don't get me wrong, I do hate the man. Vigorously so. But I have to admit that he is annoyingly, ruthlessly good at his job. I think that his job is not worth doing, and that it actively makes the world a worse place. But his job is to lead a neoliberal party, and he is peerlessly effective in doing that job, advancing the cause of the VVD by heading government after government after government. Nobody could do that better.

It is very likely that the worst PM title will soon move to whoever is up next, whether that be Wilders, Yesilgöz, or someone unexpected after new elections.

[Sean of the Shed]

Brown is the only one in my lifetime with even a basic grasp of principles and humanity.
Johnson is the worst, but Truss perhaps on impact over time served. That shit with Bannon was an indication of the utter shitshow we would have been in for had she been allowed to continue.

[Crystal Staples]

Johnson in the UK. Thatcher I get, but she never actually lied to anyone. She told us quite clearly she was going to screw the unions and the workers, and she did it.

Extending this line of thinking further gives you Truss as the best PM. She did precisely what she said she was going to do during her campaign.

[Discordant Resonance]

Apart from killing the Queen as well, of course.

[Gangster Octopus]

Britain best Wilson worst Thatcher

This. Oh, fuck, I'm agreeing with Dunc...

[San Bernardhinault]

The best UK PM in my lifetime was probably Brown. The worst was Truss, on a useless-per-minute scale, or Johnson on an overall appallingness scale.

If we narrow it down to my time in the country, it would be Brown and Thatcher

In the US, the best in my time lived in the US currently, and surprisingly, looks like it might be Biden who on everything other than Israel seems to be better than Obama (and I imagine Obama would have reacted the same as Biden had Israel invaded during his administration). The worst is obviously DJT.

In my lifetime, you could make a case for Nixon for his overall awfulness, you could make a case for Reagan for lasting damage, you could make a case for Bush 2 for the combo of murderous wars and stupidity. But it's still almost certainly DJT - I might have said that he was a transient irritation of stupidity, Truss style, when he was elected out, but his continued presence has massively undermined that fabric of US politics so he remains the winner.

For the best in my lifetime, it's probably still Biden. Carter was clearly the best person to have been President - possibly ever - but being the best person doesn't make you the best President.

[tee rex]

Thanks largely to the voting system, there hasn't been a terrible PM in New Zealand this century. Tories are kept in check: be predictably right-wing, but don't go full Trump/Johnson because you need coalition partners. Having said that, the new one is on course to be the worst in a generation. Armando Ianucci created him.

Going back further, the worst is Muldoon. Best? Helen Clark (still active and admirable today), but Jacinda Ardern had the greater challenges, and in her first term she was the best PM I've known anywhere. Couldn't push on in the second term, unfortunately.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

UK prime ministers since 1963

Worst: much as it pains me to concede that Johnson is not the worst, I have to go for Truss. The sheer amount of damage done in such a short time, combined with the total lack of contrition, not to mention the hobnobbing with hard right lunatic fringe grifters, and fanatical devotion to hard right ideology.

Best: Wilson, probably.

[Sits]

Basing these on where I've lived only (England 1964-98, Australia 98-now) and it's tricky.

BEST
I would like to say Wilson, PM of my childhood but that's just it - I was a child and at the time there was just him and that Mr. Heath and I didn't really understand what they were on about. My only other Labour PMs in the UK were poor Jim Callaghan and Blair. Enough said. Which moves me on to Australia: Rudd: too much of a smartarse; Albanese: has promised much but appears to be getting blunted by the lobbies and rumps like they all are. Which leaves Julia Gillard. Far from perfect, and either lied or screwed up on the carbon tax, but for her fantastic speech at Tony Abbott in the House alone ("this man") and for holding her own in an appallingly sexist parliament, she can have the crown.

WORST
It's a pretty strong field. Tony Abbott was (is) a c*nt but honest. Scott Morrison was (is) a c*nt and a self-serving liar. But I owe it to my younger self and the country of my birth. It can only be Thatcher.

[G-Man]

Biden who on everything other than Israel seems to be better than Obama (and I imagine Obama would have reacted the same as Biden had Israel invaded during his administration). The worst is obviously DJT.

Obama actually made some comments about the occupation and settlements, so I don't think he'd have been cheerleading quite as enthusiastically as Genocide Joe. I don't know if Obama would have cut funding to the UNRWA on the basis of a lie with quite the same genocidal intent as Biden.

There is no saving grace for Biden after his active complicity in genocide, no matter how many autobahns he builds or how well the trains run on time. There is only one saving grace in favour of Biden: he's less evil than Trump.

[Jobi1]

This is pretty much Sophie's choice of Prime Ministers if you're on the younger end of the OTF age scale. Brown is least worst by default.

Indeed. Like I think several on here, Blair and Brown are the only non-Tories I've experienced, and I suppose Brown is the least worst. Points off though for some pointless populist lies like claiming to like the Spice Girls and that Gazza's goal against Scotland was his favourite ever goal.

The worst? The whole Johnson era was borderline too bizarre to be the worst, so I think it still has to be the overt, knowing unpleasantness of Thatcher. I don't remember a huge amount about her from the time (beyond being a presence on TV that I genuinely found quite scary as a child), but her Section 28 certainly didn't help in my already confusing youthful years.

I did also live in Italy during Berlusconi's final term...

[anton pulisov]

Never heard of Lemass beforehand but enjoyed reading this

surprised that you didn't add the North of Ireland /Ultonia to the list Duncan Gardner - would love to know your answers there

"Michael Collins, a man who understood that you take over the post office after you’ve won the war"

good point that one

[anton pulisov]

I only experienced four Prime Ministers of my country in my lifetime, and none of them were really absolutely terrible or fantastic. But, if I must:

Worst: Jan-Peter Balkenende. For being silly enough to head a coalition government with the clown car called Lijst Pim Fortuyn. It didn't last a year, and everybody knew that it would be a disaster from the beginning. He does get a bonus point for heading the only coalition government since 1994 that didn't include the VVD, but that's not enough for redemption.

Best: Mark Rutte. Don't get me wrong, I do hate the man. Vigorously so. But I have to admit that he is annoyingly, ruthlessly good at his job. I think that his job is not worth doing, and that it actively makes the world a worse place. But his job is to lead a neoliberal party, and he is peerlessly effective in doing that job, advancing the cause of the VVD by heading government after government after government. Nobody could do that better.

It is very likely that the worst PM title will soon move to whoever is up next, whether that be Wilders, Yesilgöz, or someone unexpected after new elections.

No love for Kok?

[Wouter D]

No love for Kok?

Runner-up. Not bad at all, but not as effective. Progression in same-sex marriage and euthanasia makes his time at the top a clear plus for civil rights, but he gets points docked for continuing to privatize far too many state organizations, most prominently the Dutch railways. Privatization should be the polar opposite of what a PvdA Prime Minister should achieve.

I wish we had someone like him in charge, of course, rather than the Rutte we have. If the thread title would have asked for my favorite head of government, Kok would win it by a landslide.

[anton pulisov]

Privatisation was the ruling zeitgeist back then. The free market side had "won" the Cold War, so everything to do with capitalism was good, even the bad bits. It's like saying bowel movements are good for you, and extrapolating therefrom that a torrent of diarrhea must be even better. Unfortunately the Maastricht Treaty was written during that time, and it paved the way for privatisation of public utilities such as railways and telecom. So you have to judge Wim Kok in that light. However, the best leaders buck the trend of the day and change the narrative.

[ursus arctos]

I'm largely in agreement with SB, though I think that one gas to give more weight to those with the longest lasting impacts, which is why I would pick Reagan over Trump (much as I would pick Thatcher over Johnson or Truss). I also find it hard to see Trump ever being elected without Reagan having prepared the way for a "celebrity" with a tenuous grip on reality,

I am beginning to wonder if the genocide will be for Biden's legacy what Vietnam was for LBJ (whose domestic record is remarkable in retrospect).

[3 Colours Red]

Points off though for some pointless populist lies like claiming to like the Spice Girls and that Gazza's goal against Scotland was his favourite ever goal.

Yeah, all that "trying too hard to be liked" stuff played a small part of making me go "least worst" rather than "best". Mainly it seemed that while he didn't do a whole lot wrong, he never seemed to get much done either due to the schisms within the party between the Blair faithfuls and those who wanted to move back towards the centre-left.

[Jobi1]

Yeah, all that "trying too hard to be liked" stuff played a small part of making me go "least worst" rather than "best". Mainly it seemed that while he didn't do a whole lot wrong, he never seemed to get much done either due to the schisms within the party between the Blair faithfuls and those who wanted to move back towards the centre-left.

I suppose the biggest question that will always remain unanswered will be what would have happened if he'd called a general election when he first took over. From my hazy memory of the time, it felt like Labour probably would have won, just about, which with that kind of mandate you'd think would have put him in a better position to withstand the difficulties of the financial crash period, etc. Who knows, the 2010s could then have looked very different…

[blameless]

Best: probably Brown?

Wilson was pretty much a spent force when I was born, and Callaghan presided over a total shitshow that let Thatcher in the door.

Worst: Thatcher.

Cameron and Johnson are spoilt narcissistic sociopaths, but they were also born into extreme privilege and such have no idea how to behave like human beings. Thatcher wasn't born into money and still chose to grind the poor into the dirt because she thought it was a good idea. And has been noted upthread, she's also the role model for assorted arseholes who followed.

[anton pulisov]

Thatcher also probably delayed peace in NI by five to ten years.

[Duncan Gardner]

Thatcher also probably delayed peace in NI by five to ten years.

Can you expand please?

Worst years were on Heath's watch iirc

[George C.]

It's not exactly rocket science...

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Can you expand please?

Worst years were on Heath's watch iirc

The hunger strikes were stupid. They came at a great time for the provos. Gave them a real second wind to carry them through the eighties and into the nuneties

Shoot to kill was a nit of a mixed bag. I mean it obviously wasn't popular, but as was painfully clear by the end of our civil war, if you want peace, there are some people you definitely need to kill., and a lot of those shot in these incidents were the hardest of hardliners.

Indeed given that the security forces generally couldn't find their own arsehole even if they used both hands, the devastating and one-sided impact this had on ira hardliners means that there are plenty of dissidents that are prone to say that Adams and mcguinness told the British who to kill.

Personally I'm extremely open to the idea that wee Marty was a tout. I mean why else wasn't he arrested for this.

https://www.irishnews.com/news/north...-film-1706012/

[Cal Alamein]

I am beginning to wonder if the genocide will be for Biden's legacy what Vietnam was for LBJ (whose domestic record is remarkable in retrospect).

This is becoming more and more likely as the death count will continue to go crazy and with no end in sight.

[scratchmonkey]

For worst, I concur with UA and have to go with Reagan. Not only did he pave the way for Trump, I'm not sure you can find a single person in the entire history of the planet who's done more damage to people's lives through their direct actions -- primarily environmental (make no mistake, Reagan was an absolute environmental disaster on every possible level), and also economic, convincing everybody that we'd figured out some kind of magic to lick the malaise of the Carter years, only it was just kicking the can further down the road, something that we're still struggling to come to terms with.

For best, I think I just might have to go with Carter just because by most accounts, he was a genuinely ineffectual president and logically, that means that he probably did the least harm. Clinton, Obama, and Biden have just far too much been in lockstep to American Empire, as well as continuing overall trends of loss of privacy rights, being beholden to the rich, and general authoritarianism for me to pick any of them.