June 1987 Margaret Thatcher wins a General Election with a 102 seat majority. The Conservative Party ousted her in November 1990 and the next election was held in April 1992. May 2005 Tony Blair wins a General Election with a 66 seat majority. The Labour Party ousted him in June 2007 and the next election was held in May 2010.  May 2015 David Cameron wins a General Election with a 10 seat majority. He resigned in June 2016 following the Brexit referendum and the next election was held a year later. June 2017 Theresa May wins a General Election without an overall majority. She was pushed out by the Conservative Party in July 2019 and the next election was held five months later. December 2019 Boris Johnson wins a General Election with an 80 seat majority. He was ousted by the Conservative Party in July 2022 and the next election was held two years (and two Prime Ministers) later. July 2024 Keir Starmer wins a General Election with a 174 seat majority. He was ousted by the Labour Party in June 2026. I heard someone say on TV over the weekend that the last PM to stand down of his own accord in mid-term was Harold Wilson in 1976. He was also the first PM after losing to remain party leader to fight the next election since Winston Churchill. Since then, James Callaghan, Gordon Brown and Rishi Sunak were defeated in General Elections the first time they faced the electorate, John Major lost his second General Election as leader, and Liz Truss never faced a General Election. Both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair had already won two General Elections before their third and final wins. We used to regard the constant turnover of Prime Ministers in Italy with a degree of contempt, but now they have Giorgia Meloni who has been in charge since October 2022 and looks set to provide an example of political stability by comparison to the UK. It was also notable how she hit back at Dumbass Donald over the weekend, showing a lot more fighting spirit after his foolish remarks than Starmer managed in similar circumstances. I'm not a fan of Keir Starmer but, like those I listed above, he won a General Election and ought to have been given the chance to serve a full term. Previously I accepted that it was legitimate to change PMs in mid-term without a General Election, but I am beginning to think that in circumstances where the ousted PM remained in good health and was attempting to carry out the policies outlined in the party manifesto (and did not have any legal or financial shenanigans coming to light) then if the party's MPs want a change of leader, the new leader should be required to set out their policies in front of the electorate and call a General Election to legitimise the new regime. IMHO the quality of our PMs has shown a marked decline since the 1960s, and I'm afraid that I can't see Andy Burnham bucking that trend. About the only thing be might do right would be to keep Nigel Farage away from Downing Street. But to do so he would have to do a lot better in the next three years than Starmer has in the last two. Could Kemi Badenoch or Penny Mordaunt become a British version of Giorgia Meloni ? We can but hope !

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 13:52:00	Richard Greenhough
Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 14:21:00	Janice Evans
Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 17:45:00	Denis I. Fox
Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 20:29:00	Richard Greenhough
Re:Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 21:22:00	Davy Jones
Re:Re:Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 21:44:00	Keith Iddon
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 22:01:00	Davy Jones
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 23:29:00	Jayne Thorburn
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	22/06/26 23:36:00	Keith Iddon
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:What a way to run a country !	23/06/26 11:29:00	Jayne Thorburn

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