Thatcher tops league table of best Prime Ministers

By Tim Montgomerie
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Lady Thatcher has been in the news this week given the impending launch of the Iron Lady movie (watch trailer). In the latest YouGov poll (PDF) for The Sunday Times, voters installed Lady Thatcher at the top of the league table for best post-war Prime Ministers:

1. Margaret Thatcher: 27%
2. Winston Churchill: 20%
3. Tony Blair: 9%
4. Harold Wilson: 6%
5. Clement Attlee: 5%
6. Harold MacMillan: 2%
7. Gordon Brown: 1%
8. John Major: 1%
9. Edward Heath: 1%
10. Anthony Eden: 1%
11. Jim Callaghan: 0%
12. David Cameron: 0%
13. Alec Douglas-Home: 0%

20% of voters think she was a great PM and 30% more think she was simply a good PM. 8% think she was a poor PM and 25% told YouGov she was a terrible PM; a net positive rating of 17%. She is most popular among those over 60 and least popular in Scotland. 60% of seniors think the Iron Lady was good or great compared to 35% of Scots.

Voters are split on which recent PM David Cameron's style of leadership most resembles. 18% chose Lady Thatcher. 12% chose Tony Blair. 11% chose John Major. Earlier this week I argued that Cameron was most like John Major and that history should be kinder to the achievements of the Major years.