'John Major should never have been prime minister' | Exit Interviews
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- Опубликовано: 18 июн 2023
- “I liked John Major very much but I don’t think he should ever have been prime minister or leader of our party.”
In his Exit Interview, Sir Gary Streeter tells Matt Chorley why just four people in his 30 years as an MP 'deserved' to be prime minister.
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I am lost for words. John Major was the last good PM the Tories had. If I remember correctly he consistently polled higher than his party.
Compare to DC, TM, BJ, LT and RS he was way ahead in terms of leadership and common sense.
This is the problem of the Tory party. History and facts don't seem to matter. They lie to their members and ended up with a load of crazy people leading them.
I would take JM over the recent jokers that have been leaders of the party anytime.
Agreed. Major is centrally a very good person and was a moral crutch the Conservatives always need.
@@JK_ClarkMaybe his wife would not agree with that statement..John loved a Curry!
I think you’ll find that’s :ranking: john major
The man that preached family values with his hand up Edwina curry's skirt,his comment about contaminated blood being bad luck to the victims was crass.Seems to have all the answers now he is away from the levers of power and likes to share his views often.
is that egg curry? 😁
Boris makes Major look like the greatest political leader that Europe ever produced.
Boris makes Phillipe Pétain look like the greatest political leader that Europe ever produced.
Larry the cat would have done a better job than Boris. Even a cat can't get everything wrong.
@@nudisco300I was just about to suggest a cat, you got there first.
I've heard of Sir John Major. I haven't heard of Sir Gary Streeter.
Too true he is one very big zero ,
John major is light years ahead of this duck.
Yet another 'Christian' who goes to church then goes home and reads agrees with every word in the Mail on Sunday.
If Streeter thinks that being an MP is his calling it’s a tragedy that he was so poor at it.
Hatsh
🤣
So poor at everything. An ignoramus with direly overblown estimation of his own abilities and lead weight around the poor fools who voted for him as their MP.
He has been consistently re-elected for years so his constituents clearly think otherwise.
I'm not a Christian, not conservative, don't like the Tory party (and am not British), but this interview gave me a feeling of some respect for this man. Too bad there aren't more Tory MPs like him.
He's literally living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks the Tories have got a prayer in the next election!
Labour are poor opposition which gives them a chance if they "stop the boats" and get inflation down etc
@@martinwfarrellTories are Toast
A weekk is a long time in politics and there are many weeks until the election. The public have short memories when they are feeling ok, so you never know. My guess, being old, is that it will be a hung parliament with Libs and Lab running the country.
Love the thought of literally living in cloud cuckoo land
...and everyone said the 2017 election would be a Tory landslide, and everyone said the 2015 election would be a hung Parliament, and no-one said John Major would win in 1992. Even in 1997 people said there would be a swing back to the Tories. If you think you have a crystal ball and you know now what the result of the next election will be, you're a brave man.
John Major introduced the Citizen's Charter - the only Prime Minister who ever gave a toss about the rights of the ordinary citizen in the face of a powerful and overweening Civil Service.
Froth froth remainer blob froth froth liberal elite froth froth.
And they just ignore it.
LordOfLight quite right , a clampdown on the uncivil service is long overdue , they consider themselves to be the real governing power in the land , unfortunately most political parties do absolutely nothing to counter this absurdity, a reconning of this obnoxious clique should be high on the list of the next government, but I fear that will not happen and the CS will trundle on its merry way causing problems for all governments and the population at large.
Major also helped Good Friday Agreement happen... what has Brexit done to help the North of Ireland?
Cones Hotline
My God! Every conservative should listen to this interview and then leave the party!!!
In a spectrum between Disraeli (good) and Truss (comedically bad) John Major is far closer to the Disraeli end of the scale.
Well, naturally so, since his father was a Victorian.
People are unkind. He comes across as a decent if not dazzling mp and human being. But isn’t there room for good constituency mps who watch our leaders up close and help decide who leads. Christians can be forgiven for believing in the resurrection and his political judgements are pretty defensible. John Major looks far better now than he did in 1997 or 7.
Of course he comes across well, he's a politician that's literally the first thing they need to do.
Matt typing on 2 calculators put side by side is really quite funny. Reminds me of something Alan Partridge would do. lol
Never trust anyone who has a calling from god...
It's funny how when god tells some guy to do something, coincidentally that something always aligns with that guy's own selfish benefit.
Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, William Wilberforce?
@@georgesdelatour
George Bush...
@@georgesdelatour- proving the point, old chap
There's idiots and messers on ALL sides - having the conviction of "God" doesn't make them any better
Wilberforce and King may have been grand men, but Tutu is a convicted PDF file...
@@danielcrafter9349 No, refuting the point. @andreasstavrinides6980 singles out the religious politician as suspect because of his religiosity. If we’re both agreeing that the religious politician is no better or worse than the irreligious or anti-religious politician, we’re on the opposite side of the argument.
Brilliant, uplifting, reassuring, restoring some faith in democracy - thank you both!
As a Christian his defence of the lies and infidelities of Boris shows what he really thinks of his own religion.
He didn't defend Boris's lies. He condemned them. Or didn't you listen?
@@LewisSkeeter if he still supports him he supports the lies.
@@nickkowal6537 He doesn't support him. He supports Rishi Sunak.
@@LewisSkeeter that's your opinion. Mine is he was very pro Boris in his opinions. Which for a professed Christian to support an unrepentant liar and philander seems hypocritical
Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. From the very beginning of Christianity there has been a recognition that politics is grubby. And that you can be a good Christian privately while having to interact with an immoral political system. The first Christians had to operate within the immorality of the Roman legal framework (as Christians viewed it).
What an incredible interview of immense disclosure.
I can see why he was left on the back benches.
John Major is in a class above the rest
Lol
@ 28 minutes in, Sir Gary is asked about training, skills of an MP. What I think is there should be a school for MP's, a school for presidents, for prime ministers. This is quite an important branch that political science barely scratches the surface. Training one to be in a parliament, no matter the country should be mandatory prior to one running for such an office or is considered by the leader to be in a cabinet.
This is a perfect example of the utter mediocrity of the Tory party. 30 wasted years.
Excellent insightful interview.
If John Major should never have Been PM, then Tony Blair should have been barred from politics altogether!
Excellent interview, informative and entertaining.
Honestly.....what a sanctimonious you know what.
How so?
"I don't think we could have governed without the referendum" maybe, just maybe, you should've put national priorities above self-interest and not bloody governed then.
More interesting and insightful than I expected. I suppose he's having his "Bulworth" moment, knowing that he's leaving Westminster.
Never voted Tory but yea the Major government was decent enough to patch up the economic mess they themselves created and a centre right move rather than the economic car crash of Thatcher.
Having retired have had time to read loads on economics and political history given the data why anyone thinks the Tories are economically competent is beyond me
The current Tory government are leaving behind a mess like Labour did in 1979 and 2010.
Major was prophetic on Brexit…
Great watch, love the idea. I take it Baroness… I mean Nadine Dorries is next? 😉
She has to actually resign first 😂
Excellent interview- very informative knowledgeable
Cameron was a class act😂…a visionary😂…Danny Dyer said it best, this fella is one two
Too*
@@aztekarchive 😂
Prima facie a decent man - however, wld have liked more probing of his 'Christian' support of policies which destroyed council housing, put unprecedented number of homeless on the street, scapegoated immigrants, allowed Grenfell and promoted off-shore tax-havens
John Mayor was better than the one we got now.
"I joined the SDP because I knew nothing about politics" - of course! Ha!
I cant think of any Tory who should have been PM.
Going back a bit but Salisbury, Disraeli, Canning and both Pitts were pretty good, Id say.
@@robertcottam8824 Would that be the M. of Salisbury who f$d up Ireland and declared: "Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible"?
@@robertcottam8824 Of course, Disraeli's greatest achievement was that superb album with those great strat solos!
Sir Gary Streeter I so thoroughly enjoyed your interview, your profession of faith and take on politics, political friends and foes. You are a gentlemen and I wish many of our politicians in the US could follow your positions and style. This is leadership! Thanks you Sir for your service to you great and wonderful country. May God continue to bless you and yours in your retirement, though I hope we will continue to hear from you.
Sir Gary should have emigrated to the US, perhaps he would have fitted in perfectly.
Im a Christian and I find it inexplicable that anybody could read the words of Christ as a christian and be a Tory. I accept thst they do but I simply cannot follow the logic. Everything Jesus said and did is absolutely antithetical to what they have done to ruin the poor and the ill and the vulnerable.
When Jesus is arraigned before Pilate, he does not lecture the Roman Governor on how Judea ought to be ruled. Instead he tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world”.
The most striking thing about all of Jesus’ teaching is its knowing impracticality. It’s as if we’re supposed to glimpse the eternal through that contradiction. Jesus says “take no thought for the morrow”. But no politician, from the Duke of Wellington to Leon Trotsky, can operate on such a principle. Politics is all about making plans. There can be no NHS if our politicians take no thought for the morrow…
@@georgesdelatour Of course Jesus didn't lecture Pilate on his rule. He knew he was on his way to be crucified and he was answering a direct question about his position. The answer to that question could have legally entitled Pilate to execute him. As it was his answer gave no such legal justification (as Pilate admitted). This was a critical moment in our understanding of Jesus as an unblemished sacrifice. To use it as an example pointing Christians to be disinterested in critiquing our politicians (I assume that's your point of deploying it) is to miss the significance of that exchange. There are plenty of better verses you could use to suggest that Christians should distance themselves from politics if that is really your intention.
Furthermore, your use of the KJV of Matthew 6v34 is misleading. Almost every other translation uses some version of "Do not worry/be anxious". (The key word merimnēsēte | μεριμνήσητε) was not a directive not to think about tomorrow but not to *worry*. about it. Quite different, and also understandable why he would say that.
@@georgesdelatour A tad selective, old boy.
@@BiggusDiggusable Was there any moment prior to his arraignment when you think Jesus DID say things which could be taken as requirements for how an earthly state should be properly governed? I can’t think of any.
If you compare Christianity with, say, Islam, the difference is striking. The Islamic calendar dates from the Constitution of Medina - the constitution of an actual functioning state. Muhammad was both the secular and spiritual ruler of that first Islamic State. He effectively combined the roles of Jesus and Constantine into one.
The demands on the Muslim believer may be onerous but they are designed to be workable and practical. You give this precise share of your money to charity as Zakat, and so on. But Jesus’ advice is always absolute and impractical. Jesus tells the rich man to give away everything, become completely destitute, and await his reward in the next life. I don’t see how you could determine UK tax rates from that.
Regarding “take no thought for the morrow” line. It occurs in the context of lines such as this: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”. The message seems to be; don’t bother planning. If Jesus is telling us as individual believers not to worry, I’d agree. But anyone who takes on the job of, say, Minister of Health, has to plan, has to worry whether there will be enough doctors, drugs, beds, etc in the future. That’s his job.
@@robertcottam8824 Feel free to be selective for the other side. I'm interested.
Cameron was a coward who couldn’t stand up to the erg
What??? John Major is the only PM that I and everybody I have ever asked this question, 'Which recent prime minister would you like to have had a chat with down the pub?'. And, guess what, the 100% answer? I'll leave it for you to guess and yes, it doesn't involve a non-cricketer.
Nobody expected Major to win that election. Labour was too hopeless to win.
Been following politics for 40 years and never heard of him!
And thatcher and blair should never have been pm
Thatcher was before his time, old chap.
@@robertcottam8824 thatcher caused absolute misery for millions by putting vat on various items and introducing poll tax major achieved nothing of any significance and blair was a self opiniated paranoic
People aren't thinking about the election right now?! No we aren't thinking of it, we are praying for it!
Seems a nice chap but hardly a stellar parliamentary career.
Major was a very competent and decent man, maybe not an inspiring leader, but absolutely should have been PM after thatcher, in fact he still remains the best Tory PM since thatcher, but that isn’t too hard a call.
You're right... he should've been king!
Very interesting interview with an accurate assessment of the party leaders in question in my view.
I watched the whole damned interview hoping for a morsel of insight. I guess there was a little bit. But Mr./Sir Streeter is either not forthright or sellf-aware enough. But I must be wrong since he has had _such_ a long run.
Maybe interviews should have ratings, ....... for valuable insights ..... or not. This one was deeply disappointing. 25 minutes wasted.
You can add Johnson, Truss and Sunak to that headline.
And Brown, Starmer, Streeting, Wilson,
As a foreigner I'm surprised a out his view on John Major. I think he was the best in formulate the best to formulate the problems with Brexit before the referendum and great describing it now.
IIRC he won because he was the least hated candidate.
@@himoffthequakeroatbox4320 Thanks for the update. Some politicans have been unlucky or disliked when they served but in late years been instrumental. President Carter had a lot of bad luck but also took some bad decisions in service however after his presidentcy he has been totally instrumential as peace negotiator and advocate for humen rights. One of the most honored Nobel Peace prize winners in modern time.
Majors Brexit analysis has been so precise before and after Brexit.
@@larstenfaelt1859 I think your comparison is apposite.
When I saw the tagline, I was offended. I like John Major. But… the more the interview went on, I found it very engaging. And the analysis seemed well worded and well balanced.. Major was a very likable “Pug”. But I do see reason.
3:04 "the evidence for the life and death and resurrection of jesus christ is overwhelming"... the 'evidence'... 'overwhelming'... I will carry on listening for a bit through gritted teeth.
Glad I listened through - this exit interview format is a good framework for this sort of discussion (I always find it fascinating doing exit interviews of staff, as they tend to be brutally honest, so there are often lots of opportunities for improvement identified)... One very important achievement of Boris Johnson as PM that Sir Streeter did not mention is the way he garnered/cajoled or just 'embarrassed-into-being' international support for Ukraine at the start of the full scale invasion - he may have done this because it was popular, and he was using the international arena to try to distract from domestic politics woes, or it may be that it appealed or chimed with his self-image as a modern day Churchill, or it may be that he really recognised what was at stake... probably a combination of all 3 - but he certainly played a big hand and was one of the leaders in raising the issue and supporting Ukraine, with the EU and US almost forced to follow in his/UK's wake... without Johnson, and the resulting international support for Ukraine, perhaps Russian borders would be all the way up to Poland, and Putin would be eye-ing up the rest of Moldova as his next move.
Calling Boris Johnson "capable of greatness but deeply flawed" says it all about this guy.
Yeah...he knows what he is talking about
BJ is only great in his own imagination.
He is not wrong. Johnson could have been great if actually believed in or cared about anything other than himself. But deeply flaws based because of this and his dishonesty and inveterate lying.
@@patrickmccutcheon9361 BJ was okay at London Mayor a terrible foreign sec and a disgrace as PM
I disagree about Rishi Sunak being able to win the next election
. As a Conservative voter I will never vote for them again unless they sort out the immigration crisis . By sort it out I mean stop the overwhelming numbers both legal and illegal. Putting them in hotels or housing them in ex military accommodation isn't sorting it out .
Immigration will finish the Tories and deservedly so .
so the NHS and Ambulance Service actually failing doesn't bother anyone? Okay Dokey!
Yes the NHS / Ambulance situation matters . The overwhelming numbers being added to this population adds to the pressure on the health service and to schools.
Increases to the number of people in this country of over 600000 last year cannot be coped with . The infrastructure of the country is at breaking point .
@@duncanbull959 makes you wonder who's been running the country for the last 14 years
@@mjowsey indeed
@@duncanbull959 sounds like we need to get rid of a few million of this excess population, some kind of "Final Solution?"
its about 30 years to late to bring this up.
John Major was the only Tory PM I respected, even though I didn't agree with many of his politics. Integrity was his trademark and he had foresight and savviness, as well as good communication skills. There are very few Tories who can hold a candle to him. I am expecting people to point out, that he had an affair with that horrible woman Edwina Currie- just goes to show, that he is human and errs like the rest of us.
It's incredible that somebody who thinks there is overwhelming evidence for a god is taken seriously on any subject at all. Bizarre.
Anyone who imagines God's existence or not, to be a clear question with a widely agreed meaning should not be taken seriously on any subject at all.
@@domingodesantaclara1130 You should wonder about the people who ask that question of a man who is married to a woman and has fathered children. They are marginally thicker than the idiots who keep bringing the subject up. 99.9999999999999999% of the public couldn't give two f*cks what Starmer says on that subject. The 0.00000000000000001% who do care are irrelevant. That means; you must be irrelevant.
Easy
@domingodesantaclara1130H ow did you conclude that defying the laws of physics (walking on water) is more improbable than the mixing of sex-characteristics?
Never mind G-d, what he claims is that there is strong evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.That's the bizarre part.
I hated Margaret Thatcher, and I hated her neo-liberalist policies, though in all fairness she did bring the excesses of the unions under control, and who else would have defended the Falklands? Yet I see her, albeit love her, hate her, as the last PM in a line who were actually held in esteem by the public.
Happy retirement! He seems reluctant to look at Sunak’s flaws. Yet IF ONLY there were more pragmatic Tories around like him. I hope J R-M, Dorries and the like listen to him. Democracy needs them to go.
A Tory party that mucks up on the economy will not be forgiven by middle England. The 1997 General Election was lost in October 1992 with Black Wednesday and our expulsion from the ERM. The Truss disaster in 2022 will also not be forgiven irrespective of inflation and interest rates un 2024. Tories are forgiven almost anything by Middle England except an economic eff up that affects their mortgage rates or house prices.
The irony is, between Black Wednesday in September 1992 and Tony Blair's election in May 1997, the macroeconomic management of the UK was the best it's been since the end of World War Two. Quietly implementing policies forced on them by events, Major and Kenneth Clarke prepared the way for the boom years under Tony Blair.
You mean the English would have forgiven and re-elected Johnson in 2024?
I also am lost for words. John Major was the last real intellectual leading the Conservatives. Also his books show he is erudite as well ("My Old Man" and "More Than A Game").
If John Major was unsuited to be PM where does that leave Boris Johnson!
He's got to be C of England, so reasonable they have no convictions.
Really? How many C. of E. communicants do you know? Being wrong and lacking conviction are not remotely the same. Its my firm belief that Burnley is the greatest football team in the world, for example.
Blessed be the manufacturers of all dairy products!
@@anonUK
I'm sure He said, "Cheesemakers," in the original Aramaic. Bleedin' Gospel writers, eh?
A totally uninspiring career politician
This man is so out of touch with reality it is frankly astonishing. Do we even live on the same planet???
This is what delusion looks like.
Monumentally deluded....The UK is well and truly ....ed as a serious country
Should never have been a politician 😜
John major was an excellent politician. He made prime minister because the cut throats in the tory party had a Mexican standoff after thatcher clearing the path for a decent human being
Nor should Thatcher have been. Or May. Or Johnson. Or Sunak... why the focus on Major then?
'Used to be SDP and then joined the Conservatives in the late 80s' - he sounds like a wet and very much like the modern day equivalent of 'Used to be New Labour and got elected to parliament in the 2010 intake as a 'Conservative'
Why Thatcher filled her cabinet with wets after 1987 is beyond me .
What is that first guy on? desperation?
16:24 You shouldn't have been governing if the only way to maintain it was to cave in to the radical right. Where was your conscience then?
John Major was PM over 20 years ago. Let’s move on
It’s hard to move on as he was fairly competent at fixing some of Thatchers mistakes. No conservative leader has come close since.
What a vacuous soul. He suggests Major shouldn't have been prime minister, a man that fought Thatcher over the poll tax, Brought in the Citizens Charter and the Nolan Report. How much better if those seven principles had been applied recently. To describe Cameron as a class act?
When he talked about his faith, what evidence was he talking about?
One word sums up John Major - Maastricht.
Yes, he bedded in a decade and half of stability and prosperity.
Of course after the GFC it was all spunked away. The disaster capitalists wanted a fire sale and an ambitious Etonian wanted to be PM.
William Hague? Vision? Strength? Really?
I would take Major above any of them at least he had honesty and empathy toward the voters at the very top of his political thoughts, quite a few in his party disliked him because he was not a showman populist and very different to Thatcher, Populists are 10 to the penny politicians like Major are rare because people love to dream they don't want facts and detail, so politicians especially in the Conservative party have happily become what the people want which is fun for the news channels, but awful for the country .
I can only think of Kenneth Clarke or Michael Hesseltine being PM instead. It was a good win for major in 92 though, no socialists in UK government thank you very much.
The galloping major.. how grey must he be now?
How did Mr Streeter, on a poor MPs wage, retire with a few acres?
Who are the 4 people who deserved to be prime minister ?
Really ?
Major all be it a touch bland set the table for Blair to take all the credit economically and globally.
1. Economic Stabilization: John Major's government successfully navigated the country through a challenging economic period, including the aftermath of the recession in the early 1990s. His government's policies helped stabilize the economy and lay the groundwork for future growth.
2. The Maastricht Treaty: Major's government negotiated and signed the Maastricht Treaty, which led to the formal establishment of the European Union (EU) in 1993. This treaty played a pivotal role in shaping the future of European integration.
3. Peace in Northern Ireland: Major's government made significant strides toward achieving peace in Northern Ireland through the Downing Street Declaration in 1993. This set the stage for future peace talks and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
4. Education and Health Reforms: Major's government introduced reforms in education and healthcare, including the establishment of grant-maintained schools and the implementation of the "Citizen's Charter" to improve public services.
5. Environmental Initiatives: His government took steps to address environmental concerns, including the introduction of the Environment Act 1995, which established the Environment Agency and addressed air and water quality.
6. Privatization and Deregulation: Major continued Margaret Thatcher's policies of privatization and deregulation, which had a significant impact on the British economy.
While John Major faced challenges during his time as Prime Minister, including divisions within his party which as you see have again led to the Tories imploding
Nothing is more toxic than the fusion of religion and politics.
As for his opinion on Sunak - how deluded.
John Major made the peas taste goôd again 😔☝️
Aye and not that pureed* nonsense, neeva'.
*Sorry. Mi' keyboard won't do l'accent aigu.
look at the evidence and then decided that jesus was really the son of god etc. thank goodness he's going to be in a position to no longer mandate law. he obviously doesn't understand what evidence actually is.
Do wish he was cloned for Canada Parliment.
Hope he enjoys his retirement.
26 : 50 " Hopefully the economy by next the autumn of next year will be doing quite well, And people will " Forget " some of the problems we've had " slimy narcist
John major was a great prime minister and the last great prime minister britian ever had.
Left to his own devices, he probably would
How delusional can you be
He was 'called by god' to be a tory....oh please!
Misquoted Dylan Thomas.....pfft
Johnson the serial liar capable of greatness but greatly flawed. Understatement of the century.
Rishi has less chance than any other Tory leader in my time. The sad thing is Boris would attract more votes, thank Satan that Boris is gone for now.
Brilliant
THIS GUY IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY THE TORIES ARE FINISHED.
JOHN MAJOR SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN P.M. NOR SHOULD THERESA MAYHEM OR BILY LIAR JOHNSON