LibDems hold Eastleigh, Tories in Third Place after UKIP

[formant]

Good trivia question, who was the last PM (or opposition leader) with a proper science/engineering degree? Do any of the cabinet come from such backgrounds?

+1. I was just googling my way through that.

Margaret Thatcher?

Law is probably closer to the humanities than it is to the sciences.

[d000hg]

Margaret Thatcher?

Law is probably closer to the humanities than it is to the sciences.

Didn't she work in chemistry, famously involved in Mr. Whippy ice cream?

[DodgyAgent]

Margaret Thatcher?

She arrived at Oxford in 1943 and graduated in 1947 with Second Class Honours in the four-year Chemistry Bachelor of Science degree; in her final year she specialised in X-ray crystallography under the supervision of Dorothy Hodgkin.[13][14]

[sasguru]

Margaret Thatcher?

Think so. Chemistry degree.

[DodgyAgent]

Think so. Chemistry degree.

Sigh! my heroine

[Mich the Tester]

Perfectly sufficient in his time.

And why not NOW? OK, because he's dead, but you are postulating something that's clearly silly; the idea that a man's university education is somehow indicative of his qualities as a leader; it isn't indicative because we can all think of examples of effective leaders without university degrees and we can all think of complete turd-for-brains moron 'leaders' WITH degrees. Now yes, it might come in handy, but it's of no relevance to Mr Farage's complete unsuitability for a job as PM.

Personally I think John Major, on the whole, did a very good job in exceptionally difficult circumstances; he didn't have a degree, but did a lot better than most PMs with easier circumstances.

[Mich the Tester]

+1. I was just googling my way through that.



Law is probably closer to the humanities than it is to the sciences.

Yep, except that Mrs Thatcher had a BSc in Chemistry.

[formant]

Didn't she work in chemistry, famously involved in Mr. Whippy ice cream?

Apparently she did both, started out with a degree Chemistry, later qualifying as a barrister.
(interesting combination, learned something new today. )

[sasguru]

The problem with PPE, that most people of my class do, is that isn't really that rigorous.

[Mich the Tester]

Ronald Reagan didn't have a degree. Controversial, maybe, but far from ineffective in international relations. Just ask the Soviets.