George Osborne

[TheFaQQer]

Rather suggests hes exactly where he belongs then surely?

a 2:i in history, and a few months doing data input for the NHS, and little while working in a shop does not a chancellor make.

Better qualified than John Major to be chancellor, then!

[BoredBloke]

The program makers were self-confessed Labour Luvvies. They packed up when Labour got their act together.

The Labour/Tory roles are more or less reversed now, and so I don't think they'd come back to ridicule Labour.

It's amazing how many highly paid media types, comedians and writers are Labour luvies

[Pickle2]

Better qualified than John Major to be chancellor, then!

Didnt JM works a banker in the city before politics?

[minestrone]

Didnt JM works a banker in the city before politics?

Yes, self educated as well, just picked up the books and learned as he went up the ranks.

Probably more qualified than half the bankers today who have grown up selling fruit from a stall down the market.

[minestrone]

I just read Major's wikipedia page there and one thing stood out..

in spring 1990. He publicised it as a budget for savings and announced the Tax-Exempt Special Savings Account (TESSA), arguing that measures were required to address the marked fall in the household savings ratio that had been apparent during the previous financial year.

He obviously was aware that government has a duty to step in to try and influence household budgets. So can we say that if he was still PM we would not be in this debt bubble now?

[TheFaQQer]

Didnt JM works a banker in the city before politics?

Major left school at 16 in 1959, with three O-levels: History, English Language, and English Literature. He later gained three more by correspondence course, in British Constitution, Mathematics and Economics. Shortly after becoming prime minister, when pressed about his precise qualifications, he answered "he couldn't remember" what he had attained. Major applied to become a bus conductor after leaving school but was beaten to the post by another applicant ... His first job was as a clerk in an insurance brokerage firm Pratt & Sons in 1959. Disliking this, he quit and for a time he helped with his father's garden ornaments business with his brother, Terry Major-Ball ... After a spell of unemployment, he started working at the London Electricity Board (where his successor as PM Tony Blair also worked when young) in 1963, and decided to undertake a correspondence course in banking. He took up a post as an executive at Standard Chartered Bank in May 1965.

[Solidec]

Big Major fan myself. The guy may have been dull, and had to deal with tulip largely out of his control (ERM fiasco) but he knew what was best for this country.

best PM that has served in my lifetime (since 1979) imo.

Shame conservatives have nobody of his calibre at present.

[sasguru]

Big Major fan myself. The guy may have been dull, and had to deal with tulip largely out of his control (ERM fiasco) but he knew what was best for this country.

best PM that has served in my lifetime (since 1979) imo.

Shame conservatives have nobody of his calibre at present.

Best piss take post of the day.

[ace00]

He obviously was aware that government has a duty to step in to try and influence household budgets. So can we say that if he was still PM we would not be in this debt bubble now?

Yes I think so, UK could do with more like him.

[Doggy Styles]

He obviously was aware that government has a duty to step in to try and influence household budgets. So can we say that if he was still PM we would not be in this debt bubble now?

Most definitely.

In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if anyone other than Gordon Brown had been chancellor we'd have been far better off, even another Labour MP. It's as if Brown's every action was intended to sabotage the economy for future generations.

However, John Major semi-f**ked the economy over the ERM.