This morning's short video has now been published. In it I argue that all prime ministers want to be remembered. What will a man as bland as Keir Starmer be remembered for?
The transcript is:
What will Keir Starmer be remembered for?
Most Prime Ministers are remembered for something.
Harold Wilson, the first Prime Minister I can remember, was remembered for three things. The Open University, legalising homosexuality and legalising abortion. Massive social progress.
David Cameron is remembered for losing the EU referendum.
Boris Johnson is remembered for taking us out of the EU, and parties of course.
But Starmer? Has he got the personality to be remembered for anything? Or will he be like Ted Heath, or Jim Callaghan, or maybe even Gordon Brown? Those Prime Ministers who just don't leave a mark.
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To be fair to Gordon, he will be remembered (rightly or wrongly) as the person who saved the country from the worse effects of the financial crash
Mr Brown (light touch regulation) was part of the problem which caused the crash. I’m not inclined to regard in a sympathetic light those who cause a problem, & then expect a pat on the back when they fix the problem they caused.
Well indeed, I did state rightly or wrongly
Caring drives the development of life forms as indeed it drives democracy. Since we express caring in democratic institutions by spending money it’s important that a society understands how fiat money works. Sadly few voters understand that by not knowing how fiat money works this undermines both caring and democracy. The net result is politicians like “Richy Care Not” and “Sir Care Not Either.”
Thank you, Richard.
I don’t disagree, but could over Heath and Brown.
Heath tried to keep the Tory wet and European flame alive, along with Ian Gilmour. That tradition could lead to the resurrection of the Tory Party.
Brown did leave a mark. He did little to undo Thatcherism and sucked up to the City, I will spare you the details and libel risks, and paved the way for 2008. Regardless of what happened in the US and its subprime mortgage scandal, the UK would have experienced a form of 2008.
William Grenville (1759–1834), PM 1806-7, is remembered for being entirely forgotten; in spite of passing the Act abolishing the Slave Trade in 1807.
Thank you, John.
Fun facts: The Grenvilles, also related to the Pitts, come from my home county. Tony Blair lives in part of their original home. The descendants survive in the female line, including a Coldstream Guards subaltern and the owner of an abbatoir in Yorkshire.
As Blair will be remembered for lying after he became PM, Starmer’s going to be remembered for lying before he became PM.
Surely Gordon Brown will be remembered for his loyal companion Prudence?
After all she seemed to get a mention every time he had anything to say.
Thank you, WJ.
Rupert Murdoch’s eldest child is called Prudence.
The predictive text on Brown’s government device had to turned off as he kept messaging members of the Murdoch family and group. One wonders if he had Prudence on the brain.
I suggest that some PM’s get Lucky eg Wilson and Churchill – or unlucky as a result of whats going on around them.
I don’t know to what extent Wilson was behind the reforms of the 60’s – dont forget the abolition of the death penalty as well but to what extent did these come to a head in his term of office as much as being instigated by him.
At least Edward Heath had the sense to sack the racist Enoch Powell. Heath blundered with the miners dispute causing power shut downs and 3 day week. His reorganisation of the NHS was far better than the more recent medddling and underfunding they have endured.
Don’t forget that Heath could also conduct an orchestra, or as my tutor put it when I studied orchestral conducting, he could conduct an orchestra provided the orchestra was able to play the piece without a conductor.
🙂
I notice you did not mention John Major, Richard. Even the cartoonists of the day portrayed him in grey!
I must have forgotten him
Starmer will be remembered for the total & complete destruction of the Labour party. He & Reeves have lashed themselves to the mast of neo-libism which has already destroyed the Tories.
Keep in mind: neo-libism is utopian is its design/outcomes & thus detached from the real world. Any party that thinks neo-lib is the answer is asking the wrong question & invites destruction. This will be visted, deservedly so, on the Tories, with the seeds being sown when Thatcher became leader. Starmer & co could abandon neo-libism – but all the signs are that they will stick with (oh dear, there is no money etc).
That will be his legacy.
You may well be right
The Labour Party was destroyed by Tony Blair (with help- including from supposedly ‘Red Gordon’). It was no longer extant for Keir Starmer to totally and utterly destroy. He just followed a trend. And to be fair Neil Kinnock initiated the shift to the right (or at least away from the left).
Pardon my ignorance, but why is Modern Monetary Theory never mentioned by leading politicians?
Because they never mention any economic theories
It appears to me that their economic policies are based on rules that don’t seem to apply to the modern times or am I missing something.
You are right
Except ‘trickle down theory’ which apparently they all believe to be ‘a thing’.
Which it ain’t.
I suppose not believing in the magic money tree is also a policy or even an ideology.