Neither Cameron or Blair had many scruples when it came to that.

I'm a Labour through and through. But Major handled being utterly battered in an election. With dignity and even a little humour. Fair to say he gained a lot of respect that day he resigned.

I'm a Socialist through and through but always liked and still like John Major.

He is not driven by greed like all the others then

No he doesn't have to!

USA used to take even longer, they'd inaugurate presidents in March after a November election. The reason was to give people time to pack up their lives and travel to Washington from across the huge country.

@@spewter the certification process also took much longer pre-modern travel. Today they can simply get a plane, train or car to get together and do it but back in the old days it would take months of travelling to individual states.

@@spewter That's very true. Let's not forget the incoming American president has a bigger team to put into place and cabinet members to confirm than a UK PM. The roles although often compared are totally different

Yeah to leave the next day is a bit brutal. In Canada the transition is anywhere between 10 days and three weeks. A short transition time is doable in a westminster system because of the permanent professional civl service, whereas the election of a new U.S. President represents not only a different occupant of the oval office, but also tens of thousands of high and mid level positions change hands.

@@Cambrandreth in parliament it's simply a case of swapping seats. The former prime minister automatically becomes leader of the opposition though these days the former prime minister generally resigns as party leader as soon as they lose the election. I mean it would be pretty humiliating to face the guy who defeated you and took your job every single day plus your party members would want you gone as you've failed them and someone else should get a try.

You forget the affair

he was an extraordinary incompetent politician. ie ERM

@@terrysmith9362 He was generally a decent person who tried hard, but he certainly wasn't the most effective, he was just trying to ride the wave of thatcherism.

I'd say that he and Callaghan came across as being the two who came out with their heads held highest in this show (and Macmillan didn't seem to do too badly, either).

I did, however, laugh out loud and snort when Edward Heath was asked the Rejoice question! Petty, yes, but he didn’t deny it and claimed it - respect!

Aged 18 I helped vote him out of power, and I don't regret doing so, however in the years since I've come to have a great deal of respect for him. He has conducted himself with remarkable dignity.

John Major was a decent and elegant bloke.

@@abrahamdecruz5128And the most recent PM to have actually come from the working class.

John Major just hasn’t been caught

That's garbage

Legend has it that he is the only known example of a boy who ran away from the circus to become an accountant.

@@JasonJason210 Comic Strip!

Same. He is a class act as a person tbh

Can you refresh my memory how he was humiliated please

@@Shane-zx4ps His party, the conservatives, lost the election to Tony Blair and the Labour Party, who won in a landslide

Bless him

@@redkingnate6995 Dont forget the Edwina revelations.

Gordon Brown is by no means a lightweight politically, including him in a list with May and Cameron is disrespectful.

@@olayinkaamara385 (a) signed the Lisbon treaty without consulting the electorate - keep the masses away from such an important matter eh? (b) car-crash 2015 election in which he called a member of the public "just a bigoted old woman" when she DARED to question east European migration in her part of the north of England.He gave an interview to the Guardian a month before when he said he would be fine if he lost his Prime Ministerial role - not that committed eh? (c) spectacularly underfunded the British army in Iraq - no doubt due to his own view of the war in the first place (d) a deeply flawed individual - computer keyboards were regularly replaced due to his anger directed upon them, formidable outbursts of anger directed at anyone including his subordinates when Chancellor (e) a committed socialist - an author indeed of at least two books regarding the militant Clyde-side dockers - yet he felt no shame whatsoever in being a part of "New" (non-socialist) Labour (f) no mandate of him being Prime minister (always important although not of course required in UK politics) - he just took over from Blair - there should at least have been some sort of leadership contest in order to give him some respectability in the highest office in the land.In summary - just as underwhelming as May & Cameron.

@@revol148 James Callaghan who you mentioned wasn't a particularly great prime minister but was still a massive political figure. Brown's rise up the Labour Party alongside his mate Tony Blair was rapid, he entered the Shadow cabinet in 1987 after only becoming an MP four years earlier. He got to the top of the Labour party when there were still a lot of big figures both there and in politics in general throughout parliament during the late 80s and early 90s unlike now I.e. Robin Cook, John Smith, Ken Clarke, Ann Taylor, Michael Heseltine, Paddy Ashdown , George Robertson, Donald Dewar etc. Brown was chancellor for 10 years (the longest served in modern history) and accomplished many things in his time there (Minumum wage, Bank of England independence etc). I certainly would not call him a lightweight.

@@olayinkaamara385 James Callaghan: complete British patriot - very much the last of the "God, Queen & Country" politician who understood that the country needed to be governed as a whole rather than for the divisiveness which came afterwards - very much like Wilson who steered the UK through the oil shock after 1973, the rampant trade unionism & the reposition of UK industry throughout that decade - closing down coal mines, massive bailouts towards failing companies like Rolls Royce & investing in the recently opened oilfields of the North Atlantic.All this of course has been completely forgotten in the rewriting of history - after, and during Ted Heath it was all chaos until Thatcher came along and we all lived happily ever after !? Gordon Brown sold off the UK gold reserves at rock bottom price at the end of the 1990's as well remember ! Big figures: Hesseltine came to prominence in the late 1970's -1980's, Robin Cook (remembered for what exactly?), John Smith - he would have been another Kinnock (the Brits are not left wing remember!), Ann Taylor (her legacy is what exactly?), George Robertson - his NATO links with the bombing of Serbia - our natural allies is shameful, Donald Dewar - set about the destruction of the union - good work....if you care less about the UK.

@@revol148 None of that changes the fact that Callaghan was not a particularly great prime minister despite his many achievements and qualities (and there were many). Each to there own I guess.

He is indeed

You've never met Keir Starmer....

@Blue haha I actually forgot about that! Still more moral than most PMs!

Not a Conservative? That's ok, neither was John Major.

He was a useless knob, betrayed his own PM then betrayed the country with Maastricht.

@@drifty_grifty I agree they were harsh but she had to go. 11.5 years is like dictator proportions anyway.

God bless JOHN!!

He’s done loads 1) Whitehall 2) Margaret Thatcher 3) Office of state 4) Ted Heath

I suppose it depends whether or not you think hes a little fxxxxxt - - ERM - Europe - committing adultery while chastising the country over family values - small things like that

oh yeah i remember you, i saw you talking nonsense along with jason in the norm richards video weren't you?

@@craw.54 Well agitating to get your own way and entering the ERM at the wrong rate, insisting that if the economic solution isn't hurting it isn't working, refusing to heed sensible advice on the issue and then after wasting billions of pounds worth of national gold reserves and dramatically raising the costs of peoples mortgages before having to back pedal in a moment of national disgrace and then shoving your chancellor who didn't agree with the ERM policy out to face the music is a sign of competence in your book then yes I suppose it would appear to be nonsense. Almost as ludicrous as having one of your advisers crawling around under the table whispering advice and directions on what to say while you are at an international conference supposedly negotiating a high level treaty - nonsense if it didn't happen but unfortunately in John Majors case it did. Tell me - given that you said yourself that you don't really understand British politics what was it that convinced you that it was a good idea to then presume to tell others that they are talking nonsense about the same subject ?

what are you talking about joining the ERM? that was thatcher, not major. major was merely chancellor of the exchequer at the time if you checked that. don't talk to me like some university teacher at oxford as well sounding egotistical saying "given that you said yourself you don't really understand british politics", to which I didn't. that was then, you were talking nonsense then, not now. if you'd ask me about what you were talking about that time in the video made by norm richards in the series leadership reflections, then you would know what i have meant to say because you checked it. major wasn't great overall, he was good in some ways but not overall. if anything though i would prefer him over blair who ruined this country for a very wide variety of reasons, such as letting the far left run education, et cetera. just at least acknowledge that if anything, major may have had achievements but people ignore and refuse to acknowledge any of these achievements under the basis of focusing on blair too much when it comes to past prime ministers in the last 30/25 years.

He was certainly a change of pace after Maggie, that's for sure. Like all PM 's he made mistakes but I always thought him a decent man. Though whether his Mrs agrees fully with that.......

@Firm Buttocks fucking hell! Political crime of the century! So much so I can’t even remember it.

@Firm Buttocks who gives a toss? Hardly on the scale of Blair dragging us into the Iraq war that had nothing to do with us.

Beg to differ. He has appeared increasingly peevish and petty.

Not a Tory? He was (and is)! And indeed a decent, well balanced bloke.

@@jnmdrake I think Mr 'Storm Hawk', when he writes 'Not a Tory' is referring to the fact that he (SH) is not a Tory, rather than Major.

If Blair had existed in the Marvel cinematic universe, I'm almost certain that he would've been Thanos' number one target in the UK based on his love of the EU & increased immigration into the UK. 😂

​@@god-fearingenglishman5254 It never ceases to amaze me how many secondary school students and self professed "superfans" seem to think they are the last refuge of British conservatism. Since when did you last see Robert Peel or Sailsbury in the 4chan forum bitching about how Star Wars was ruined by feminists.

@@hamishwhitehenderson5197 They are edgy little teenagers think nothing of it.

A war criminal!should have been prosecuted!

Hahaha.

No one ever watches "the crown" Best to let idiots continue to think they are wise , rather than face the truth

@@twotubefamily9323 It's a drama you fool not the truth.

@@harrysmith1070 what does "bemused " mean ... ? How do you spell confused" lol

@@twotubefamily9323 Come again ?

This is the old BBC

I think the feeling was mutual, especially after the controversy of the "Yesterday's Men" documentary in 1971. Which was never shown on British TV until after Wilson died.

I'm 99% certain that was just a matter of him realizing how the phrasing would sound (and not realizing that he had just accidentally revealed something), but I kind of wish I weren't so sure.

I was quite stunned when I heard those four words. Firstly that man a man like him would have had a... umm... "mistress" in old age and secondly that anyone would use such blunt and judgemental language. Then he said the fifth word and I realised he was talking about novels.

There's something to be said for being honest about where your bread is buttered, especially when the PMs in the program respond to the question with answers like Cockerell: And what about your memoirs? PM 1: I found writing to be an enjoyable process. Cockerell: What about your memoirs? PM2: Getting my memories out there was very rewarding. Cockerell: What can you tell us about your memoirs? PM 3: "Memoirs," otherwise known as "autobiographies," are books containing the memories of notable people, written from a first-person perspective.

What’s that?

would most likely sit in prison for his war crimes

@@rastislavstanik you get any previews of war criminal or are you just blowing smoke out your ass with that allegation?

Dresden calling. Quite a few schoolchildren went missing in the firestorms.

I can't find this, could you help me?

@@nathansikner2560 41:56 sorry I should have time stamped it, my bad.

@@frankemerson8584 You're awesome, thanks a lot!

@Carl Yelland yeah sure And you are somebody unconscious of facts

@Carl Yelland Heath also ran trains on little kids, might of even killed a few too.

It’s from The Goons, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe

Almost. It is Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore. I can see, or hear, what you mean about it sounding a little like Harold Wilson, though.

@@susanpettigrew7686 No, it's Peter Cook & Dudley Moore! This was the theme tune they used for all their TV and live stage work.

Both of them were clueless

Yes, look at those blank expressions! 😆😆😆

Eden is sadly never remembered.

I was struck by Attlee's omission as he was the first post-war PM.

He said Macmillan was the first to be videoed hence none of his predecessors

Alex Douglas Home's omission us even stranger, as he was the PM between Macmillian and Wilson.

@Anita Pavese The cow was presumably female and he presumably sent her off to be slaughtered, maybe not actually that respectful

Hopefully, another one will very soon.

Looks like 3 more have bitten the dust after this comment

@@eugenedonaghy1 Nice one

Probably

@Heather Stephens Funny how he was broke in 10 Downing St, now he's worth over $60 million, self serving tw@t

- Only In The Warped Universe Where James Bond's Dad Is The Star, & Is A Boring Bell-end, With All The Charm Of A 300 Year-Old Turd, Who Resembles A Green Skinned, Thin-Lipped Buffoon.

No idea dear person. best you don't focus on that. it barely matters. take care.

May is still serving in the Commons

Cameron is in the South of France I think.

@@user-pv4hx8hs3f Ironic.

@@samjoshi1812 In many ways, but really not suprising😂

Blair works in Footlocker in Westfield. Cherie drops him off in the morning. At lunch, Tony has a Tesco meal deal sandwich on a bench that puts Victoria's Secret in his eye line. He is very good at remembering stock levels for the more popular SKUs. To date he has only stolen two shoelaces and a size 4 football.

That OCD is going to be a problem for you because one thing that's not going to be in your control and that is changing of events

War criminal blair

@@TheMiketyson9 why he got to be a war criminal? Sounds like a butthurt word peace nut job

Chopin, raindrops prelude

@@tobyyorke2539 Thanks