TSR best (post-war) PM tournament Final: Attlee vs Wilson

This poll is closed

Who was the best British (post-war) prime minister?

Clement Attlee85%

Harold Wilson15%

Total votes: 13

Talkative Toad

Volunteer Team

Welcome to the TSR best (post-war) PM tournament!

This is the Final!

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 is the best one. This is the final, so whoever gets the most votes wins.

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

The PMs in the final 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. He's also responsible for some major acts such as the National Health Service Act 1946, National Insurance Act 1946, Nationalisation Act 1946, Electricity Act 1947, Transport Act 1947, Town and Country Planning Act 1947, Children Act 1948, Minders Regulation Act 1948 and Countryside Act 1949.

Harold Wilson (Labour, 1964–70 and 1974–76)

James Harold Wilson was MP for Ormskirk and then Huyton in Lancashire from 1945 to 1983. He first joined Clement Attlee's cabinet in 1947 as president of the Board of Trade until Labour lost the 1951 election. In 1955 Wilson became shadow chancellor, then shadow foreign secretary in 1961, under leader of the opposition Hugh Gaitskell. Gaitskell died in office in 1963, and Wilson assumed the leadership of the party, winning the 1964 election narrowly against a tired Conservative government on its fourth PM, then winning a much bigger majority in 1966 in a snap election. This first period of Wilson government saw a variety of social reforms, including the legalisation of homosexuality, liberalisation of divorce, abortion and contraception laws and abolishing the death penalty. Wilson lost the 1970 election to Edward Heath, but stayed on as Labour leader and regained power in two elections in 1974, first in a hung parliament in February and then a very small majority in October. This makes Wilson the most recent PM to serve two separate periods in office. Wilson held a referendum on European Community membership in 1975, and eventually resigned amid ill health in 1976, being replaced by James Callaghan.