Thatcher's the best! New poll names ex-Tory leader as greatest prime minister

A new poll by ComRes for the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Mirror shows that Margaret Thatcher the most respected leader of the past five decades

by The Commentator on 16 February 2013 21:55

A new poll by ComRes for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror newspapers has revealed that the former Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher, is still the nation's best leader since 1964, according to the public.

The poll gives the former prime minister, now Lady Thatcher, a whopping 23 point leader over the current Tory leader David Cameron, and a 13 point lead over the second top choice, Harold Wilson.

The poll asked members of the British public: "In your opinion, is David Cameron a better or worse Prime Minister than —?" and named each of the prime ministers since Harold Wilson.

Embarrassingly, though not unpredictably, the last Labour leader, Gordon Brown, scored -17 points, coming last behind John Major and James Callaghan. The full list after polling breaks down as follows:

1 Margaret Thatcher +23

2 Harold Wilson +10

3 Tony Blair +4

4 Edward Heath +1

=5 David Cameron 0

=5 James Callaghan 0

7 John Major -4

8 Gordon Brown -17

Interestingly, 45 percent of Conservative voters think David Cameron is a better prime minister than Edward Heath, with just only 6 percent saying worse. This however, is almost the same score as for Harold Wilson.

46 percent of Conservatives think Cameron is a worse prime minister than Thatcher, though surprisingly, 14 percent say better. Among UKIP voters the ratio is 70 percent to 6 percent.

Amongst the other parties, 29 percent of Liberal Democrats indicated that they believe Cameron to be a better prime minister than Tony Blair, but 24 percent disagree with this notion. 16 percent of Labour voters think Cameron is a better prime minister than their own former leader, Gordon Brown.

The full ComRes poll can be viewed here.