Biggest Political Mistake

[MCFC BOB]

Treaty of Versailles must be near the top. That and giving women the vote.

haha you sound like my grandad. the other day he told my grandma ' you've got the vote what more do you want?'.

PMSL.

 

[stony]

In all seriousness it has to be the Treaty of Versailles. It was so unfair and unduly harsh on the Germans it caused widespread resentment in Germany which in turn allowed a certain Adolph Hitler gain power.
You know the rest, WW2, the holocaust and the aftermath of WW2 which saw Britain's role as a world power end and the rise of America as a superpower.
We've been taking it up the arse ever since.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

What is the biggest political mistake committed by a British PM?

I would go for Thatcher selling off the major utilities.

Thatcher selling a large number of council houses off has caused a massive shortage of social housing today culminating in large waiting lists. Major privatising the railways was a bit stupid as well.

Surely it was the failure to build any social housing in the intervening 20-30 years that would be the cause of a lack of social housing. I don't see how anyone can deny someones aspiration to own their own home

Agree with you about the railways though

 

[bluemanc]

If that was today i shudder to think what the endgame of this would have been.

 

[Cellarite]

Treaty of Versailles must be near the top. That and giving women the vote.

haha you sound like my grandad. the other day he told my grandma ' you've got the vote what more do you want?'.

give 'em an inch, they take a mile.

 

[law74]

Thatcher selling a large number of council houses off has caused a massive shortage of social housing today culminating in large waiting lists. Major privatising the railways was a bit stupid as well.

Surely it was the failure to build any social housing in the intervening 20-30 years that would be the cause of a lack of social housing. I don't see how anyone can deny someones aspiration to own their own home

Agree with you about the railways though

Yes the aspiration to own your own home is a good thing, but the money from selling the social housing at a much reduced rate was not reinvested in social housing resulting in the buy to let shysters forcing the increase in property prices aided and abeted by the bankers and their 125% mortgages etc, while the cost in Housing Benefit etc for the public purse exploded, and instead of this money reamining in the public purse (through council housing - local authority housing), it was being used to allow the already wealthy extra summer holidays or enhanced pension plans.

Peace in our time would be my personal vote for biggest mistake by a British PM in the last 100 years or so.

 

[BrianW]

I would say the biggest mistake was Thatcher's decision to spunk the one-off proceeds from the sale of nationalised industries and our peak oil revenues on tax cuts (mainly for the rich) instead of building a sovereign wealth fund.

Mind you, cutting back hugely on public expenditure in the 1930s, throwing millions on the dole and creating a depression not completely resolved until after the impact of wartime must run it close. Good job we'd never be daft enough to that again - oh!

 

[scall11]

If that was today i shudder to think what the endgame of this would have been.

Ohhh bloody ell, as soon as I saw the thread title I was looking forward to posting exactly that. It was one hell of a blunder.

But yeah, the Treaty of Versaille was definitely too much. The Germans only finished paying off the repatriations in September THIS YEAR!!!!

 

[denislawsbackheel]

1. Accepting the wooden horse as a gift
2. Destroying a career by thinking the UK was ready for the Blackshirts

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

As regards Munich in 1938, the major mistake was not tackling Germany in 1936, when the French and British could have easily overwhelmed them.

The Suex crisis was a huge blunder, effectively alienating the Americans and ending Britain's role as a true global power.