Greatest post-war British Prime Minister

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Churchill

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Thatcher.  FF.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Thatcher.  FF.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Churchill

1950s Churchill? Really? It isn't as though he actually did anything.

[minionofmidas]

His government did undo one of the strangest (to us living today, anyways) Attlee nationalizations - road haulage.
Also, the current very cumbersome (but also somewhat receptive to public input) redistricting process is their work.
But otherwise... can't think of anything, yeah.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

His government did undo one of the strangest (to us living today, anyways) Attlee nationalizations - road haulage.

Which, I suppose, was important given the later role of haulage companies in lobbying for the destruction of much of the railway network.

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Ending of food rationing and the birth of ITV, both in 1954. Former was on the cards anyway, and it's highly questionable whether Churchill himself had much to do with anything during the period...

[The Mikado]

I always have trouble remembering when the flips between Heath and Wilson were.  I just refer to the early 70s as Heath/Wilson.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I always have trouble remembering when the flips between Heath and Wilson were.  I just refer to the early 70s as Heath/Wilson.

Heath was June 1970 until March 1974 (the election was on the 28th of February).

[Insula Dei]

Attlee (boring, I know)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Attlee (boring, I know)

He was actually quite witty in a deadpan way.

[Insula Dei]

But choosing him as greatest British post-war PM is a boring thing to do. (If you're on the left, that is.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But choosing him as greatest British post-war PM is a boring thing to do. (If you're on the left, that is.)

Oh, I got that. I just wanted to make a joke in the right spirit, so to speak.

[afleitch]

But choosing him as greatest British post-war PM is a boring thing to do. (If you're on the left, that is.)

A less boring, and indeed interesting thing to do is to give reasons for Wilson. Attlee's administration carried through many proposals drafted by bored civil servants during the war. Wilson was more innovative.

[Foucaulf]

Eden might be a surprise as he was a terrible Prime Minister [...] remembered only as a failure who was responsible for the Suez fiasco... and there is the answer. He's important because it was on his watch that the whole vile fycking ship of Empire sank beneath the waves; that his intentions were the opposite merely adds a layer of deliciously funny irony.

This was what I thought at first, but then I realized voting for Eden would be schadenfreude overload.

I'm split between Macmillan and Attlee. To summarise my reasoning, let's say that Attlee's greatest accomplishment was the NHS and his greatest atrocity the Mountbatten Plan (parts of which were out of his control). Macmillan's accomplishment was decolonisation, and any of his atrocities (i.e. the developing of the H-Bomb) pale in comparison to the partition of India. Attlee may be a socialist par excellence, but he was not much less a Briton.

[minionofmidas]

Eden is also a great symbol that anyone can achieve anything. He was, after all, a junkie who became Prime Minister of Britain.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Eden is also a great symbol that anyone can achieve anything. He was, after all, a junkie who became Prime Minister of Britain.

Quite, quite. Incidentally my great-grandparents voted against him in his first parliamentary election (Spennymoor, 1922). Signs of his future toolishness were apparent even then; one of the names on his nomination papers was that of a prominent coal-owner.

[republicanism]

He was, after all, a junkie who became Prime Minister of Britain.

Which sounds more unique than it really is, if you think of the number of political leaders who have been (borderline) alcoholics.

[bullmoose88]

Super Mac. 

[courts]

Churchill

1950s Churchill? Really? It isn't as though he actually did anything.

You make that sound like a bad thing.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Churchill

1950s Churchill? Really? It isn't as though he actually did anything.

You make that sound like a bad thing.

Yeah, of course we elect politicians in order to let them sit down, make a few solemn speeches and take their consequent salaries. Who's the idiot who wants them to enact policies ?

[tpfkaw]

Churchill

1950s Churchill? Really? It isn't as though he actually did anything.

You make that sound like a bad thing.

Yeah, of course we elect politicians in order to let them sit down, make a few solemn speeches and take their consequent salaries. Who's the idiot who wants them to enact policies ?

You.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Churchill

1950s Churchill? Really? It isn't as though he actually did anything.

You make that sound like a bad thing.

Yeah, of course we elect politicians in order to let them sit down, make a few solemn speeches and take their consequent salaries. Who's the idiot who wants them to enact policies ?

You.

Thisiswhatminarchistsactuallybelieve.jpg

[Antonio the Sixth]

Churchill

1950s Churchill? Really? It isn't as though he actually did anything.

You make that sound like a bad thing.

Yeah, of course we elect politicians in order to let them sit down, make a few solemn speeches and take their consequent salaries. Who's the idiot who wants them to enact policies ?

You.

Sarcasm fail.

[bore]

 Easily Attlee

[GMantis]

Margaret Thatcher, as she did the greatest damage.