TSR best (post-war) PM tournament: Semi-final 1: Attlee vs Blair

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TSR best (post-war) PM tournament: Semi-final 1: Attlee vs Blair

Clement Attlee69%

Tony Blair31%

Total votes: 13

CatusStarbright

22

Welcome to the TSR best (post-war) PM tournament!
This is semi-final 1

TSR is asking the question: Who is the best (post-war) UK Prime Minster?

We're holding a tournament of UK Prime Ministers and asking you to vote to determine which was the most significant in history. We are currently in the semi-final stages of this tournament, and this is semi-final 1. This is now a head-to-head shootout for a coveted place in the grand final!

There's a hub thread here if you're interested in reading more about how the competition has progressed.

The PMs in semi-final 1 are:

Clement Attlee (Labour, 1945-1951)

The earliest PM in this list, Attlee led a ground-breaking government who oversaw the post-war recovery period in the second half of the 1940s. His government nationalised most basic industries and public utilities, ensured free access to secondary schools, began the decolonisation of the British Empire and ensured a steady rise in living standards. Its most celebrated achievement was of course the establishment of the NHS.

Tony Blair (Labour, 1997-2007)

Tony Blair was Prime Minister from 2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007, ending 18 years of Conservative rule in the UK. Blair saw the introduction of a minimum wage, tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales, an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights, and significant progress in the Northern Ireland peace process with the passing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement. However, his role in the Iraq war led to a sharp drop in popularity, and his eventual resignation.

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 1

Saracen's Fez

20

This feels like a battle for the soul of the Labour Party :rofl:

Tonty! Tonty! Tonty!

Easy choice on this one for me.

Reply 3

Trinculo

21

Easy choice for me, too - neither.

Two literal champagne socialists, both from boys public school and then Oxford, both trying to hold together the soft and hard left.

I have to say, these write ups are really quite embarrassing and are blatantly 21st century in their revisionism. No mention of Attlee's absolutely catastrophic foreign policy, and reduced to simply "decolonisation". Not "he put Holocaust survivors back in camps" or "drew lines across India that led to the deaths of a million people". Sent arms to Communist China and cozied up to Chairman Mao. What a legacy.

As for Blair - really? Really? On a lefty student forum, the man who went into Iraq and introduced tuition fees has got to the semi-finals? Not to mention this absurd note about "LGBT rights", Blair never ever contemplated the situation we have today with a move toward total gender fluidity - although it does seem to fit in with his overarching philosophy of "you can be anything you want - all you have to do is want it badly enough".

Reply 4

AngryJellyfish

Chat Forum Helper, Entertainment Forum Helper

18

Original post by Trinculo

Not to mention this absurd note about "LGBT rights", Blair never ever contemplated the situation we have today with a move toward total gender fluidity - although it does seem to fit in with his overarching philosophy of "you can be anything you want - all you have to do is want it badly enough".

During Tony Blair's premiership, civil partnerships were introduced, ages of consent were equalised, adoption by same-sex couples was legalised, discrimination at work and in provision of goods and services was made illegal, and the Gender Recognition Act was passed. I mentioned LGBT+ rights in my original writeup (reused here) because these were big steps forward at the time, and (aside from full marriage equality) there hasn't been a lot of positive change since.

Original post by AngryJellyfish

During Tony Blair's premiership, civil partnerships were introduced, ages of consent were equalised, adoption by same-sex couples was legalised, discrimination at work and in provision of goods and services was made illegal, and the Gender Recognition Act was passed. I mentioned LGBT+ rights in my original writeup (reused here) because these were big steps forward at the time, and (aside from full marriage equality) there hasn't been a lot of positive change since.

I didn't vote for Blair because of Iraq but other than that I agree.

Reply 6

Trinculo

21

Original post by AngryJellyfish

During Tony Blair's premiership, civil partnerships were introduced, ages of consent were equalised, adoption by same-sex couples was legalised, discrimination at work and in provision of goods and services was made illegal, and the Gender Recognition Act was passed. I mentioned LGBT+ rights in my original writeup (reused here) because these were big steps forward at the time, and (aside from full marriage equality) there hasn't been a lot of positive change since.

Are you suggesting that Tony Blair contemplated the concept of "T+" as it exists today?

Reply 7

AngryJellyfish

Chat Forum Helper, Entertainment Forum Helper

18

Original post by Trinculo

Are you suggesting that Tony Blair contemplated the concept of "T+" as it exists today?

Not necessarily... but he isn't Prime Minister today, so I don't see why that is relevant?

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 8

Saracen's Fez

20

I feel genuinely privileged to have been a child under the Blair government, when I look at what came before and after.

Reply 9

CatusStarbright

OP

22

I honestly can't decide who to vote for here, because we're clearly looking at two prime ministers/governments that have had a huge impact on our modern society.