# Worst Prime Ministers Of All Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 4, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609 "2003-10-04T22:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/41 "2003-10-06T04:27:11Z")
Check out those unemployment figures and recent growth figures. Germany and France are in recession while Britain is doing all right. Unemployment in both France and Germany is now in the double digits. If you could find some stats since the mid-80s, it would be more enlightening. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/42 "2003-10-06T05:45:48Z")
The stats are from 2002, not the “mid-80s”. And since you’ve produced no stats whatsoever, I’d say your argument about the health of the U.K.'s economy vs France and Germany is rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![kiwiboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/35a633/32.png) [@kiwiboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiwiboy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/43 "2003-10-06T08:47:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by calm kiwi \* > \*\*NZ: Robert (piggy) Muldoon, his “think big” policies were a horrid thing and he was a bully. [http://www.sybworld.com/views/entrytext/nz/person/Robert\_Muldoon](http://www.sybworld.com/views/entrytext/nz/person/Robert_Muldoon) \*\* Last Saturday I went to David McPhail’s excellent one man play on Muldoon. Set during the 1984 election night it’s a brilliant insight into the mind of of the man. Here’s some highlights from Muldoon’s years in power for Non-NZ dopers: **1975** Muldoon wins the election on the back of the infamous “Dancing Cossack” election campaign. Before even taking office he declares Labour’s fully-funded pension scheme (with equal contributions from employees, employers and the government) will be replaced by a universal pension funded on a pay-as-you-go basis from tax revenues. Muldoon’s use of executive power to displace legislation was later found to be illegal by the NZ courts but this was ‘remedied’ by legislation. The massive cost of the pension system remains a big problem for future governments. **Think Big** in order to stimulate the economy Mulddon embarks on a series of grandiose infrasatructure projects. The most famous of which was the Motunui synthetic petrol plant. While something of a technological triumph, Motunui is unable to compete with cheaper crude oil and is later sold by the Labour government for $1. The total investment has been estimated by economists to have exceeded the cost of fitting-out every New Zealand vehicle with CNG. **1980ish** A High Court decision reveals that Western Samoans born during New Zealand’s administration of the islands are in fact New Zealand citizens. Muldoon counters this by passing legislation that retrospectively strips these citizens of the New Zealand citizenship. The NZ police conducts dawn raids on these former citizen ‘overstayers’ and deports them to Samoa. **1981** Facing an election, Muldoon allows the South African rugby team to tour New Zealand in contravention of the Gleneagles Agreement to cease sporting links with the Apartheid regime. Anticipating strong public opposition to this move, the Police form riot squads and start training with long batons several months before the team arrives. Public demonstrations during the tour are suppressed by Police using riot batons - a New Zealand first. Muldoon loses the aggregate popular vote but wins the election with a one seat majority thanks to strong support from pro-rugby rural areas. **1979ish -1984** Muldoon freezes wages and prices, citing economic hardships. **1984** After a prolonged cabinet meeting, a clearly inebriated Muldoon calls for a snap election (the archive footage is absolutely priceless - apparently his own party weren’t even aware of it judging from the total surprise on their faces when he tells waiting journalists). Muldoon loses in an landslide. The Labour government comes in, finds that NZ is rapidly apporaching bankruptcy and is forced to devalue the dollar immediatly to stave of the impending fiscal collapse brought on by Muldoons economic policies.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/44 "2003-10-06T08:59:27Z")
Thank you kiwiboy. He was a bully pure and simple. not to mention looking like a troll under the bridge lol ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/45 "2003-10-06T09:27:16Z")
> [@](#): > > infamous “Dancing Cossack” election campaign Which was like? ---
**Author:** ![kiwiboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/35a633/32.png) [@kiwiboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiwiboy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/46 "2003-10-06T09:42:47Z")
Basically it was TV ad with a cartoon showing what the then Labour government was supposedly doing to New Zealand in cartoon form. After listing various polici it ended with the voice over saying “And we all know what’s that’s called don’t we” as a line of dancing cossacks filled the screen to the sound of Russian music. Here’s what the creator of the ad has to say about it all now: > [@](#): > > To many New Zealanders, Wall is best known for the infamous National Party dancing cossack advertisements that saw the Muldoon-led Nats trounce the Labour Party in the 1975 general election. The commercial featured a Labour-led New Zealand turning slowly red and finally finishing with three dancing cossacks. > > It’s a commercial he’s happy enough to discuss but says its importance in his life was not that large. “I’m not really trying to bury it and I’ve said it many times – it was a small event.” The cossacks were on screen for 1.5 seconds for a programme that screened twice. They were played many many times subsequently. It was 3 seconds of broadcast.” How they came to appear at all was finally the decision of Muldoon. “What happened with the dancing cossacks is that we said wouldn’t it be funny if we had dancing cossacks come along at the end. Everyone thought, ‘you can’t do that. It would be too much.’” Despite these misgivings, some storyboards featuring the cossacks were drawn up and Wall later went to see Muldoon with a sanitised version not featuring the Russian icons. Wall told Muldoon about them. Here Wall puts on a decent impression of New Zealand’s then future PM. “Put them back in there lad.” > > Despite his time spent working with Muldoon, Wall did not spend much time with him outside work. “He was a strange guy. If you look back his economic thinking would have been much more at home in the Labour Party.” “ I just felt I would keep my distance. He was an easy man to socialise with. If you wanted to socialise with him he would socialise with you.” But Wall believes there was another side to the ruthless politician. “He could be strangely human.” From this …"[link](http://times-age.co.nz/weekly/2003/michael_wall.html) I like the way he describes Muldoon as capable of being "strangely human ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/47 "2003-10-06T10:04:50Z")
Italy: Silvio Berlusconi, the current PM. Murdoch-style media mogul who got into politics late, changes the laws to avoid corruption charges, and influences his own same media to gloss over this. Can you say “conflict of interest”? He’s a bigoted tool who shoots his mouth off in ill-advised manner at every possible occasion. As he assumed presidency of the EU, in his inaugural speech he went Godwin on a German MEP, [saying](http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,989630,00.html) he looked like a concentration camp commandant. I can’t think of a single nice thing to say about the man. Mussolini - who Berlusconi has said he [admires](http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1040340,00.html) - was also Prime Minister, and was clearly worse, but since he promoted himself to Duce, I am excluding him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/48 "2003-10-06T11:44:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kal \* > \*\ ***The Great Unwashed** : If you were to take a bath, I think I could love you. \*\* Ironically my heating/hot water system failed this weekend (if I wasn’t so cold I’d consider ranting about it) – so you’re out of luck. Probably for the best really. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/49 "2003-10-06T11:54:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adaher \* > \*\*Thanks to Brian Mulroney, Canada is now a one-party state. > > But anyway, I don’t see what’s bad about Thatcher. Britian would today be where Germany and France are if not for Thatcher. Even Labor realized the wisdom of Thatcher’s policies. If Thatcher was such a failure, they would have been able to return to power on a leftist platform as they did in the past. But instead they moved to the center and didn’t reverse most of Thatcher’s policies. > > And thus now Britain has a healthier economy than Continental Europe. \*\* In Britain it is generally agreed that Magaret Thatcher seriously damaged the public sector perhaps irreversibly, indeed for the first few years of the current Labour government it was able to point to the Thatcher years as a catch-all and persuasive excuse for failings in this sector. Even one of the chief architects of Thatcherite economics has come out and admitted that there policies were short-sighted. Also she takes the blame for the mass unemployment during her reign. She certainly cannot take any credit for the fact that Britain is not in a recession at the moment, this has more to do with other factors such as the Labour government handing control of interest rates directly to the Bank of England. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/50 "2003-10-06T12:27:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Not In Anger \* > \*\*Speaking as a Canadian, and I’m sure in this case I speak on behalf of all Canadians, Brian Mulroney. He wrecked our fucking country. We use him as a figure of speech to describe everyhing we hate so much that, every time we think of it, we burst into tears. When I die, my final words will be: “Fuck Mulroney.” > > (Or, if I’m conscious: “Either Mulroney goes, or I do.”) \*\* Of course you totally ignore the fact that Mulroney’s policies actually strengthened the economy and prevented us from sliding into the same recession that occured south of our boarder. I detested Mulroney in the 80’s, I railed against free trade but now when I look at our country I realize that the bastard was right. Hell, I’ll bet that the Charlotte town Accord may have saved us from another referendum. Yes he built up a bigger deficit but not as big as the beloved Trudeau. But please do provide the proof that we are worse off due to his policies? Show me aside from your emotional gut reactions that Mulroney ruined the country. What was lost and how are we worse off than we were before he came into office? You want to look at a piss poor PrimeMinister look no further than the man in power now, Jean Chretien. A man who blatently lied about scrapping the GST then denied he ever said it despite the many video clips and his own red book saying contrary. A man who cut Military spending so badly that sending 1000 troops to Afghanistan put a strain on resources and those in the Armed forces have to use old equipment. A man who went out of his way to spoil relations with our biggest trade partner. A Man who nearly lost the Quebec referendum due to his own inertia. A man who balanced teh budget but cutting spending on Health care and transfer payments to the provinces and then asked us to blame the provinces for the deficiencies in our healthcare. A man who is so busy looking for a legacy he has done nothing to govern this country properly. He ignored the effects of SARs On Ontario and offered a pittence to Toronto as disaster funds. Please tell me how you can see this directionless man, whose only concerns have been about gaining power and keeping it no matter the cost, is a better Primeminister. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/51 "2003-10-06T13:01:21Z")
**Narrad** is on the money nominating Billy McMahon. (for the benefit of those less familiar with Australian politics in the 60/70s, McMahon was never elected as PM. Harold Holt drowned in Dec '67 and was succeeded by John Gorton in a party room ballot. McMahon agitated and via rank disloyalty [inc a fair bit of help from future PM Malcolm Fraser] made the Gorton government a shambles [not that it needed much help] and eventually challenged for the leadership. After a tied vote Gorton used his casting vote against himself in Mar '71. Billy was the mug in charge when the Liberals broke 23 years of continual governance and lost to Gough Whitlam’s 1972 'Tis Time" campaign.) Alongside his meagre abilities were: [ul][li] his overt ambitions that were a long standing political joke;[/li][li]Suffering seriously from “short bastards” disease with his bald noggin and Dumbo ears Billy was the best sight gag ever to grace Australian politics[/li][li]When he visited Washington in 1971 his trophy wife Sonia wore a dress that nearly popped Nixon’s cork and the fashion press completely overwhelmed any political results.[/li]In the ballot to elect the replacement for Holt, “Black Jack” McEwan blackballed him and handed the prime ministership to the “out of left field” candiate, Senator Gorton, who’d be a firm candidate as the second worst PM we’ve had.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/52 "2003-10-06T13:15:20Z")
I also present for you Charlie Haughey, former Taoiseach of Ireland, who makes the current slightly dodgy bastard Bertie Ahern look like Gandhi. Just how _did_ you afford that private island, helicopter, and clutch of mansions on your minister’s salary, Charlie? Done any gun-running for the IRA recently, huh? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/53 "2003-10-06T13:28:49Z")
Oh sorry **Twisty** , I didn’t realise you’d already mentioned Charlie. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/54 "2003-10-06T19:09:53Z")
Nothing to add here, really, except thanks for some fascinating stories. Just a quick question for the Canadians, though - I had thought Diefenbaker was not all that widely respected, essentially for toadying to Eisenhower so cravenly. Am I wrong or is Mulroney just in a class of his own (which I won’t argue)? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/55 "2003-10-07T00:56:46Z")
Can I preemptively vote for Paul Martin? _shudders_ ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/56 "2003-10-07T12:39:24Z")
New Zealanders? Any continental Europeans? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/57 "2003-10-07T12:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Governor Quinn \* > **New Zealanders?** Go back to the first page, and look for **kiwiboy** ’s two long and detailed posts. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/58 "2003-10-07T13:00:24Z")
Good heavens, I did forget about them. That said, I’m still calling for continential Europeans (other than the man who picked an ineligible candidate.) Oh, BTW, **Matt** : people who haven’t yet become PM’s are, for fairly obvious reason, also ineligible. ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/59 "2003-10-07T13:41:57Z")
Although I’m not fond of the idea of nominating the incumbent as it suggests a focus upon the ephemeral and not necessarily what will last, I am going to nominate the current Australian PM John Howard anyway. I think history will judge him very harshly. He has repeatedly played to xenophobia and hatred, and re-introduced an ugliness to Australian politics that I thought had vanished with the ‘White Australia’ policy of the 70s. Whether it is reconciliation with our aboriginals, Kyoto, refugees, the republic, relations with our neighbours he can be relied upon to be a narrow minded insular bigot at all times. He is the worst type of conservative, one that wants to return us to a fabled or vanished past, and the spirit of change of his government is “Not on my watch”. Even though most Australians are in favour of us becoming a republic, he made sure this wouldnt happen. This was despite the fact that he was in power with only 48% of the vote, and he had lost the popular vote to Kim Beazley in our own version of the Bush/Gore fiasco. He is an old fashioned monarchist who insisted upon presenting to the public a model for the republic that did not have popular support, and refused to put up for referendum the version the public actually wanted. I consider this abuse of position but as he insisted on being in control of the process even though he is opposed to the very concept we had no choice. So we continue with a foreign queen who to most young Australians means nothing. With total contempt for the overwhelming opposition of the Australian public to war in Iraq he committed us to the war without even a parliamentary debate until it was a fait accompli. He then ignored the debate that did occur, which included the Senate passing a vote of no confidence in his government. Two months after the war he announced he did not see any need for an enquiry as the war “already seems like ancient history” He has in effect sold our nation to Washington and made us mercenary whores and the chief brown-nosers of the Pacific. He parrots whatever line the Bush administration is currently espousing. When Washington was unhappy with the French he speculated publicly about how we could remove the UN veto right from France. When Washington announced its pre-emptive doctrine he announced he also reserved the right. We have become clowns, walking two steps behind a bully and saying “Me too! What he says!” He is an inveterate liar. When challenged on his claim that he kept his promises he announced that all the broken ones didn’t matter as they “weren’t core promises”. He shamelessly manipulated a lie that refugees trying to enter the country had thrown their children overboard (Do we want these sort of people he cried) in order to win the last election. He claimed he was not aware the ‘overboard’ claim was false, even though it appeared in the Australian press before the election and even I knew it. We now know that at the time he was telling the Australian public that war with Iraq would reduce the risk of terrorism he had in his possession the British intelligence report telling him the opposite. He has set back race relations in this country by years. Until last week he had as a member of his cabinet Wilson Tuckey a man who was convicted in the 1960s of beating an aboriginal with an iron bar. He was incapable of saying the word ‘sorry’ when it came to reconciliation with aboriginals, he was not sorry but had instead a ‘sincere regret’ he said. To justify war with Iraq he told us that he had compassion for the Iraqis suffering under Saddam at the same time as refugees from that same Saddam when they arrived here are imprisoned in prison camps out in the desert. Our foreign policy has become one of bluster and posturing on one hand and toadying on the other. Our domestic politics revolve around the manipulation of xenophobia and fear as vote winners. We have ceased to be the progressive nation that former governments of both sides of politics had made us over the last 30 years. And I am ashamed. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609/60 "2003-10-07T14:04:11Z")
Whilst I don’t agree with it all, **Eolbo** , that was a _very_ well written nomination. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-prime-ministers-of-all-time/205609.md?page=4)