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The most interesting US Presidents are Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, possibly Nixon, probably Reagan and certainly Trump. Kennedy for glamour, looks and sex life.
The most important are Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, Truman, LBJ and possibly Trump.
The worst are Lincoln without a doubt, LBJ, Bush 2 and Biden.
The best? Probably Coolidge.
The most interesting English PMs are the Pitts, Wellington though not for his premiership, Disraeli, Lloyd George and Churchill. Canning was very interesting, a great man but as Foreign Secretary. He was PM for the shortest time of any.
The most important English PMs are the Pitts, Disraeli, Gladstone, Peel, Salisbury (probably the best), Asquith, Lloyd George, Churchill (very wrong about many things), Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Attlee was a brilliant chairman.
The most interesting English PMs are the Pitts, Wellington though not for his premiership, Disraeli, Lloyd George and Churchill. Canning was very interesting, a great man but as Foreign Secretary. He was PM for the shortest time of any.
The most important English PMs are the Pitts, Disraeli, Gladstone, Peel, Salisbury (probably the best), Asquith, Lloyd George, Churchill (very wrong about many things), Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Attlee was a brilliant chairman.
The incompetent ones were Theresa May followed by Boris Johnson, 'Liz' Truss, Macdonald perhaps (he looked up railway timetables for his secretary) and Balfour (as PM, before his Declaration).
The worst was Blair because of immigration, devolution and an unjust, catastrophic war worse than Putin's.
Heath changed UK forever by joining the EEC but had it not been him it would have been Wilson or somebody else. It was wanted by Washington and eventually permitted by Paris.
[This was inspired by my friend Dominic Johnson's post on Facebook which he allows me to quote - see below.]
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd compile an off the cuff list of Prime Ministers and American Presidents in order of being interesting. It's a very approximate list I have spent almost no time or thought compiling. I must emphasise that all I'm interested in is being surprising rather than either good or bad. Obviously I hope that the historically minded will tell me where I went wrong.
No..1 Ronald Reagan. Totally underestimated in the UK and much of East coast America. Made Americans proud to be American again. Ended the cold War with Maggie and Russian economic collapse. Delivered well written off the cuff quips beautifully e.g. when asked about his age countered with saying he wouldn't hold his opponent's youth and inexperience against him.
No.2 JFK. He should be higher but I only just thought of him. Handsome man and Premier League shagger, Marilyn Monroe anyone, and a beautiful wife who, after his death, managed, despite being built like an angry stick of rhubarb, to marry a Greek shipping tycoon. JFK may have never won his presidency without some very dodgy vote dealings in Chicago via his dodgy father, and managed to die at the right time post Cuba, post MM's possibly dodgy death and before his private life and terrible health caught up with him. Truly a God just before his fall.
No.3 Jimmy Carter. A lovely fellow who was saddled with an alcoholic brother and the sobriquet of peanut farmer. Always well intentioned, often useless. What did for his presidency was poor economic measures, the Iran hostage helicopter debacle and especially collapsing half way through a long run. Headlines like "Carter's run out of energy." etc. He had the last laugh, he lived to be a 100 and everyone trusted him in many difficult international negotiations. Lovely chap, not great President.
No.4 Edward Heath. No recorded romantic interest in anyone whatever their genitals. Good at sailing, Morning Cloud, conducting orchestras and China, still firmly in the grip of the post Mao era of hard line communism. Possibly should have been higher up the list given his extended and heroic grumpiness especially towards Thatcher.
No.5 George Bush Junior and the psychophant Blair. Mission accomplished! Untold dead in Iraq. Good economy.
No.6 Boris Johnson. Pyramid of piffle, crush a child playing sport, shag as much as possible, Get Brexit Done, baaah.
No.7 Nixon. Got America out of Vietnam. Undone by his paranoid habit of recording everything and the Watergate cover up. Extended friendship to China and Russia. Almost a great.
No.8 Margaret Thatcher. Became PM when people, especially
Conservatives, thought women should concentrate on the ironing. Given a huge boost by Russia nicknaming her the Iron Lady. And of course the Falklands and reversing the country's economic fortunes. The poll tax. Miners.
No.9 Liz Truss. That voice, that budget, that lettuce.
No.10 Donald Trump. Obviously.