London: Gordon Brown has been rated as one
of the worst post World War II prime ministers in Britain,
according to a new survey of academics specialising in
politics and history since 1945.
The survey of 106 UK-based academics was run by
Professor Kevin Theakston (University of Leeds) and Mark Gill
(Woodnewton Associates).
This new survey is the first poll to include Gordon
Brown as leader and builds on a similar survey conducted by
Theakston and Gill in 2004, which rated all 20th century prime
ministers.
As in 2004, Labour's Clement Attlee is rated as the
most successful prime minister with a mean rating (out of 10)
of 8.1; and both Margaret Thatcher (on 6.9) and Tony Blair (on
6.4) are highly rated.
Alec Douglas-Home (PM for only a year) and Anthony
Eden (destroyed by the Suez crisis) still languish at the
bottom of the prime-ministerial league table, as in the 2004
survey.
Churchill had been ranked as the second most effective
20th-century PM in the 2004 poll but here he slips down to a
'mid-table' position, based on evaluations of his 1950s
administration only.
The Great War leader was seen by respondents as less
successful as a peacetime leader.
John Major's rating improved a little since 2004 - up
from a 3.7 score to 4.6, and he has overtaken Edward Heath in
the league table.
Both Gordon Brown and James Callaghan were Labour PMs
for three years at times of economic crisis; both followed
successful election-winning leaders (Blair and Wilson); and
both lost the only election they fought as leaders.
But Callaghan is rated more highly than Brown and is
in a higher position in the table.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 15:49