How is John Major thought of back there these days?
I lived in the UK during his tenure and I remember he used to get teased a lot for his headteacher appearance and being a bit of a wimp. There was a very funny satirical program called Spitting Image that really got stuck into him but despite that I thought he was a smart, astute man who was more suited to being a cabinet minister than the front man. There doesn’t seem to be many politicians like him these days.
An irrelevance and, like you said yourself, a “Spitting Image” puppet.
His intervention is not surprising but is a bit rich considering that his handling of the Maastricht treaty set the UK on this course in the first place. That’s when the referendum should have happened John.
That’s very much the Brexiteer point of view.
By reasonable people he is regarded as a man of integrity, and his reputation has steadily improved in recent years.
It seems Labour, or at least many of their MPs, are now opposed to an election. You really couldn’t make this up. RIP The United Kingdom.
I’m not a Brexiteer and it absolutely is a mainstream opinion of him. He is known for peas, being grey, liking cricket and having an affair with Edwina Curry. He is less of a figure of outright ridicule merely because he has been out of the news. Consider that an improvement if you like.
That’s what the view of him was at the end of his premiership. This is a more accurate current portrayal:
Major was a grey man who wasn’t suited to being Prime Minister, but he has managed his retirement well. In particular, his work with the Royals and particularly the young princes following Diana’s death garnered him some public goodwill. His personal reputation has also improved in comparison with some of his successors, as is often the case.
Nobody wants him back in office (least of all himself), but he’s managed to earn some quiet public respect in the interim. However, I doubt any public comments he makes on the subject of Brexit will cause much of a stir in any circles.
I’d have said he was pretty much not thought of, and that stuff like the peas/grey/cricket labels had faded almost entirely. But I thought I’d look it up and lo and fucking behold:
91% recognition, 23% positive opinion, 37% negative. That’s based on over 9000 interviews over the past year so it’s pretty solid. I am flabbergasted.
A poll which has Boris Johnson and Theresa May occupying the no.1 and no.2 positions as “most popular”
Here’s The Guarniad on Major’s joining the lawsuit over prorogation: John Major’s threat to take Boris Johnson to court is a true act of public service | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian
Sure. There’s a difference between “most popular” and “actually liked”, especially among politicians. But it’s a better showing than you would have guessed, isn’t it?
BBC:
Needle scratch
If I calibrate it by comparison to May and Johnson then I don’t think I know what “popularity” actually means or what conclusions to draw from it.
I mean, you must be surprised at how high up those two are yes?
Phillip Lee defected to the Lib Dems.
What does this mean for Johnson’s government?
I suppose, in calibrating how surprised we ought to be by anyone’s ranking, the question to ask is “Yes, but which Tory politician did you think would be *more *popular?”
I’m not surprised by Johnson. The whole point of “Boris” was that there was a significant chunk of people who thought he was a top lad. I am a bit surprised by May, but I suspect that after she quit people started giving her sympathy and credit for trying.
I am surprised by Major being third because I would have thought that current MPs/Ministers would do better than him. Whether Rudd and Hammond on one side or Raab and Javid on the other, I am genuinely shocked no active Tory MP does better than Major. Which is damning for them but does suggest there’s a decent number of people who respect his recent contributions on Brexit.
In blunt terms, he no longer commands a majority of the Commons and therefore shouldn’t be PM. He can’t win a vote even if all Tory MPs voted with him. Which they currently won’t on Brexit. It makes a lot of his threats more obviously bluster, and massively increases his incentive to call an election.
If Scotland votes for independence, what will the U.K. government response be?
That depends entirely on what the state of the government is at whatever point the next vote is held (should it be held). At this point there’s no knowing what state that will be.
Chaos umpire sits,
And by decision more embroils the fray,
By which he reigns; next him high arbiter
Chance govern all.
For another Scottish independence referendum to be held, the Westminster parliament would have to pass the enabling legislation, and if they voted to leave there would have to be legislation at Westminster to complete the disentanglement, dot the i’s and cross the t’s. So there’d have to be some level of functional co-operation.
The problem with Scottish independence is the finances.
Scotland’s deficit seven times higher than UK as a whole last year
*
“Total state spending in Scotland was £1,661 higher per person than the UK average… while tax receipts were £307 less per head than the UK average.”*
The question is whether the EU would even allow them to join with a deficit of 7% of GDP, far higher than any EU nation.
The SNP argues that they would repudiate their part of the UK national debt and stop supporting Trident. Whether the UK parliament would agree to that is another matter…