Another has been ex PM bleating about Brexit...John Major

RandallFlagg

The former Tory prime minister also called for "more charm and a lot less cheap rhetoric" from the UK government towards the rest of the EU

FOYSDC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39109408

Dominic

I have got a lot of time for John Major
Totally decent ,normal guy from a very non-typical Tory background who took on a difficult legacy .The country was stable, foreign policy was rational and the economy was generally decent. He was quite centre ground and actually did a great unassuming job of keeping the country on an even keel without really hurting any section of society.
 The stupid newspapers painted him grey and bland and the population mistook that for incapable and boring.
 The fresh young Bullshit merchant that ousted him seemed a dynamic alternative .As it happens Blair was ,in many ways,more right of centre than Major . With Major you got what you saw - Blair was the total opposite .
  The only valid criticism of Major is his taste in a mistress .........perhaps he was jealous of his jack -the-lad son who was busy bonking page 3 girl Emma Noble (and married her !) ..........Edwina wasn't quite in the same league !

Bridgehouse

Nice peas, dear.

starwarsnosebleed

Edwina Curry's downfall was playing Dorien in Birds of a feather. Just couldnt take her seriously after that.

Dominic

Lesley Joseph wouldn't thank you for that !

starwarsnosebleed

Whats the guy from Naked gun got to do with it?

Heartfeltdawn

Bit mean calling him a has been PM. Would you label Farage as a not even been MP? 

Sambostar

Major's election had one of the highest turnouts as well as I remember from looking at the figures the other day.

ICBM

It's slightly worrying that Major is the best living former PM we have, and possibly the best of the last fifty years. It does seem slightly sad now that we were so keen to get rid of him in '97, given what followed.

He wasn't all good though - he and Lamont presided over the ERM debacle which cost the country dearly and caused a serious recession. He also continued privatisation and other Thatcher policies, ending with the railways - after having put enormous amounts of public money into finally making them successful.

But it's a shame that his proposal of a European hard currency separate from the national currencies wasn't pursued instead of the full-blown Euro - it would have been more flexible than either the ERM or the Euro and might not have led to the problems we have now.

It's also a great shame that Ken Clarke didn't succeed him, but that's another story...

vale

Dominic said:

I have got a lot of time for John Major
Totally decent ,normal guy from a very non-typical Tory background who took on a difficult legacy .The country was stable, foreign policy was rational and the economy was generally decent. He was quite centre ground and actually did a great unassuming job of keeping the country on an even keel without really hurting any section of society.
 The stupid newspapers painted him grey and bland and the population mistook that for incapable and boring.
 The fresh young Bullshit merchant that ousted him seemed a dynamic alternative .As it happens Blair was ,in many ways,more right of centre than Major . With Major you got what you saw - Blair was the total opposite .

i'm a labour voter but all things are relative & that goes for tories too. so i would definitely agree with you on major (centre tory) & blair (fake labour).
unfortunately major's cabinet was dominated by hard-right headcases & dodgy sleazebags so his hands were tied re getting anything done.

there's a good 'the 90s in politics' private eye doc on youtube about the politics of that era (ian hislop involved) & it tells the story of major repeatedly frustrated & undermined by them, he used to call them 'the bastards'. another eu argument.

& don't forget he actually grasped the NI peace process nettle & pushed that a good way along. that posturing failure of a human being thatcher didn't have the guts.
so if you & your family went christmas shopping in a big city this christmas & didn't get bombed you owe some of that to major's resolve to get it sorted.

team brexit working to fuck all that up asap.

vale

ICBM said:

It's also a great shame that Ken Clarke didn't succeed him, but that's another story...

true. one of the greatest failures of the tory party since 1979 (it's a strong field) is that they never gave ken clarke the time, attention & authority he genuinely deserved. he's my favourite tory of that whole era.
like major, he was no angel, a tory with many cold & ruthless tory vices. but (along with major) stands head & shoulders above an otherwise pretty vile & inhumane mob.

holnrew

I'm no Tory but Major, Clarke and Hesseltine are some of my favourite politicians in my lifetime. 

I think the current government would do well to take on board some of the things he says

TheBigDipper

John Major tried to improve the country rather than his own position. The howling response from certain quarters is just "Bread and circuses" for us all to divide and fight each other over.

It doesn't matter who did or didn't vote for Brexit any more. What matters is what the politicians and privately-owned (one of those much-derided "elite" groups) media does with it. Most of us aren't going to like it.

The real business of stealing the government from the one voted in by the 2010 electorate continues unopposed by most MPs and their unelected agenda continues to be implemented.

We deserve better, but we're fighting each other instead of asking for it. It was ever thus...

Snap

vale said:

 an otherwise pretty vile & inhumane mob.

I don't align with any party, but I think the current Labour crew fit that description very well. McDonnell, Thornberry, Watson, Abbott, Corbyn - a bigger bunch of inept nasty pieces of work you would struggle to find. Total shitehawks, every last one.

Hence the reason the party is on its knees, totally out of touch with reality and desperately unelectable.

Fretwired

RandallFlagg said:

The former Tory prime minister also called for "more charm and a lot less cheap rhetoric" from the UK government towards the rest of the EU

FOYSDC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39109408

John Major may have been a nice guy but he was out of his depth. As for the government's rhetoric that is designed for a domestic audience some of whom were to be voting in two by-elections (a third is one the way). Junker does the same thing for the EU. Both camps have private contacts and looking at the softening of UK/EU on some issues I think there's the basis for a deal which IMHO will be a different form of membership which can be spun by May as being out and the EU of being 'in' .. free market access, free movement with a brake and the ability to do trade deals. And without the UK and its veto the EU can head for closer integration. It's easy to potentially spin this as a win-win for everyone.

Dominic

Anybody's view of a politician will be tempered by their own political persuasion but it is a testimony to Major that declared Labourites ie @Vale are prepared to conceed that he was a fairly decent bloke and the points about the Irish peace process are very valid ....here was a man who put peace high on the agenda whereas his successor put war on his .
 He was just a decent family guy from middle England whose parents were Music Hall performers and producers .I think he was the best PM we have had in my 55 year lifetime.
I am not a Tory and certainly not a Socialist but politically agnostic and he fitted my benign agenda very comfortably. If he didn't have to fight off the fresh Thatcher legacy and her toadies in the party he would have been free to do even better . 
 Spitting Image did him no favours even if Edwina did !

scrumhalf

Major was the living embodiment of Jim Hacker, ut he didn't have Hacker's elbows (the most important trait for a politician to have).

He was also too mild to be a PM, a ruthless streak is necessary.

Bridgehouse

Major has behaved like an ex PM should do. Statesmanlike and reserved. He only puts his oar in when his conscience dictates he should.

Unlike Blair and his Quest for ££

57Deluxe

haha - Mr Euro... I think that says all his opinion is worth!

Heartfeltdawn

scrumhalf said:

Major was the living embodiment of Jim Hacker, ut he didn't have Hacker's elbows (the most important trait for a politician to have).

He was also too mild to be a PM, a ruthless streak is necessary.

A ruthless streak wouldn't have helped him. The cracks over Europe and over Thatcher were there long before him and long after him. He did a pretty decent job leading a party that was approaching Corbyn Labour levels of separation. 

And he did a damn sight better than Hague, Howard, and IDS. 

Axe_meister

I always thought Hague peaked to early. Should have been leader when Cameron came in. I actually think he would have made a good one. Also pity Clark who is now father of the house never had the chance