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Britain
Brown named 3rd worst UK premier
2010-08-04
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been voted as the third worst premier in UK history since the Second World War.

A poll of more than 100 academics in Britain found that the former Labor Party leader should be considered a failure because of the huge debt he left behind, the Daily Mail said in a report.

According to the poll results, Brown came tenth out of the 12 post-war premiers, ahead of Anthony Eden and Sir Alec Douglas-Home who both have long been associated with failure.

David Cameron was not included in the survey as he has just taken the post of prime minister.

Brown was portrayed as the biggest prime ministerial failure in more than 45 years as his predecessor and bitter rival Tony Blair came out as the third successful leader, marginally behind Margaret Thatcher.

Labor's post-war leader Clement Attlee has been voted the best UK prime minister who between 1945 and 1951 established the National Health Service (NHS) and welfare state.

Harold Macmillan, dubbed Supermac when he led the Tories from 1957 to 1963, came in fourth place.

Labor's Harold Wilson (1964-70 and 1974-6) was the fifth, while Winston Churchill only came sixth for his peacetime stint as premier from 1951 to 1955.

James Callaghan -- who led Labor during the notorious Winter of Discontent, came higher in the survey than both John Major and Edward Heath, who took Britain into the EU but whose premiership was marred by arguments with the country's miners.

Next on the list is Brown, followed by Douglas-Home -- who only led the Conservatives for a year as the party floundered in the wake of the Profumo scandal.

At the bottom of the list is Sir Anthony Eden, who led Britain into the disastrous Suez invasion.
Posted by:Fred

#5  Is there any way we can arrange a swap, Obama for Brown?
Posted by: gorb   2010-08-04 23:07  

#4  "A poll of more than 100 academics in Britain"

Who can't scrape up 2 brain cells or an ounce of common sense among themselves.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2010-08-04 20:01  

#3  A poll of more than 100 academics in Britain

Nuff said
Posted by: DMFD   2010-08-04 19:57  

#2  "Clement Atlee is a humble man with much to be humble about."

Winston Churchill
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2010-08-04 11:42  

#1  "Labo[u]r's post-war leader Clement Attlee has been voted the best UK prime minister who between 1945 and 1951 established the National Health Service (NHS) and welfare state."

Um... OK... so the one-term Labour leader (who was bumped out at the first opportunity to be replaced by Churchill - who could only compete with Thatcher as truly the best post-WWII PM), who sowed the seeds of future Labour governments and their gross over-spending on social programmes was the best? Rollocks: Attlee and Brown should be slugging it out at the bottom together.

Stupid academics.
Posted by: Bulldog   2010-08-04 02:45  

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