British Democracy Forum - View Single Post - Who was our best Prime Minister of the 20th Century?

euromutiny · 19-12-2006, 07:22 PM

Churchill had been a Liberal in the 1920s and supported a compulsary national insurance for old age pensions and healthcare. He was part of Lloyd George's government, which was brought down largely by refusal to nationalise coal mining. After WW2 he reluctantly accepted the consensus in favour of socialist planning and nationalisation, and the only argument was over which industries should be nationalised and which shouldn't. I believe he denationalised steel in power in the 1950s, only for it to be renationalised later, but I am uncertain on this. He opposed the NHS on its third reading I think, when Labour had changed it (due to the rabid communist Bevan) to be a fully state run, nationalised system.

The Tories became the 'lite' option, doing socialism slightly less and slower. The two parties competed on who had built the most houses, resulting in a now rather hillarious 1960s party election broadcast about the wonderful, modern flats that have been built.

The Tories only ditched socialism with Thatcher, who as said earlier was a Gladstonian Liberal. Enoch Powell had very similar views, supporting free market moneterism in the 1960s. Privatisation actually ended up popular with many working class people, and I doubt it would have affected a PM Powell in the slightest. As much as I love Thatcher, Powell probably would have been better. He was a hugely intelligent man with courage and common sense, that's why the left-wing supposed intelligensia shot him down.

Heath called privatisation "selling the family silver". In reality a better description would have been selling a load of old tat on ebay. Perhaps Heath had low quality family silver? It doesn't matter which country the owner is from, because we own overseas companies ourselves, and do very well from that. Our water company here is German owned, but I don't see Angela Markel swimming the channel to dig up our pipes. Any protectionism causes reprisals, and anything damaging trade hurts both parties.

I voted Thatcher because she was the greatest true Prime Minister. In WW2 Churchill was PM in title but domestic issues were organised by the Deputy PM, so the job was totally different. I consider him more of a war leader, alongside Nelson, Duke of Marlborough, Elizabeth I etc. Churchill is the greatest Briton.

19-12-2006, 07:22 PM	#15 (permalink)
euromutiny Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 37	Churchill had been a Liberal in the 1920s and supported a compulsary national insurance for old age pensions and healthcare. He was part of Lloyd George's government, which was brought down largely by refusal to nationalise coal mining. After WW2 he reluctantly accepted the consensus in favour of socialist planning and nationalisation, and the only argument was over which industries should be nationalised and which shouldn't. I believe he denationalised steel in power in the 1950s, only for it to be renationalised later, but I am uncertain on this. He opposed the NHS on its third reading I think, when Labour had changed it (due to the rabid communist Bevan) to be a fully state run, nationalised system. The Tories became the 'lite' option, doing socialism slightly less and slower. The two parties competed on who had built the most houses, resulting in a now rather hillarious 1960s party election broadcast about the wonderful, modern flats that have been built. The Tories only ditched socialism with Thatcher, who as said earlier was a Gladstonian Liberal. Enoch Powell had very similar views, supporting free market moneterism in the 1960s. Privatisation actually ended up popular with many working class people, and I doubt it would have affected a PM Powell in the slightest. As much as I love Thatcher, Powell probably would have been better. He was a hugely intelligent man with courage and common sense, that's why the left-wing supposed intelligensia shot him down. Heath called privatisation "selling the family silver". In reality a better description would have been selling a load of old tat on ebay. Perhaps Heath had low quality family silver? It doesn't matter which country the owner is from, because we own overseas companies ourselves, and do very well from that. Our water company here is German owned, but I don't see Angela Markel swimming the channel to dig up our pipes. Any protectionism causes reprisals, and anything damaging trade hurts both parties. I voted Thatcher because she was the greatest true Prime Minister. In WW2 Churchill was PM in title but domestic issues were organised by the Deputy PM, so the job was totally different. I consider him more of a war leader, alongside Nelson, Duke of Marlborough, Elizabeth I etc. Churchill is the greatest Briton.