The Top 10: Worst Prime Ministers We Never Had

From Charles James Fox and the regency crisis of 1789 to Jeremy Corbyn last month, the leaders who nearly came to power but (to the relief of some) did not

Charles James Fox, painted by Karl Anton Hickel, National Portrait Gallery

After the brief moment after the election, when it seemed, again, as it seemed after the referendum last year, that Boris Johnson might be prime minister, David Mills suggested this list. He specified: “The ones who looked very likely at one stage, but who we were lucky to avoid.” The first requirement excluded several candidates, such as Tony Benn, who never came close enough to being prime minister; the second excluded other nominations, such as Michael Heseltine, who I think would have been a good prime minister.

1. Charles James Fox, 1789. In chronological order, starting with the Whig radical who was blocked by George III, recovering from a bout of madness just in time to stop Fox becoming prime minister under the Prince Regent. Nominated by Tim Moots‏ and Charlie Pryor.

2. Marquess of Hartington, 1880, 1886, 1887. Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, leader of the Liberal Party, 1875-80. “He’d have been a disaster as a Liberal prime minister,” said John Kenney‏. “So out of place by then that even Queen Victoria was forced to recognise that she must send for Gladstone,” said Will Cooling. Broke with Gladstone and led the Liberal Unionists, but declined twice more to serve as prime minister.

3. Lord Curzon, 1923. “We have George V to thank for passing him over in favour of Baldwin,” said Dan Jackson‏. Although it was also hard by then to have a prime minister in the House of Lords.

4. Lord Halifax, 1940. Appeasement-minded Foreign Secretary admired by George VI and many Conservative MPs. “Hands down” the worst of the lot, according to Scandifriend‏. Seconded – “would have been an utter disaster” – by Gerard. Also nominated by Will Tanner and John Kenney.

5. RA Butler, 1957, 1963. “Liberal and intellectual, but indecisive,” said Graham Kirby. Butler was identified with appeasement in the 1930s (he was Halifax’s junior minister in the Commons). I’m not sure how close he really came, as informal soundings among cabinet colleagues and Tory MPs generally seemed to be against him both times.

6. Reginald Maudling, 1963, 1965-70. He and Butler both lost out to Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963. He also stood against Heath when Conservative MPs first elected their leader in 1965, gaining 133 votes to Heath’s 150. Had he become leader of the opposition, he might have become prime minister in 1970. Left office in 1972 after a company scandal which would have brought him down as prime minister. He was also the minister who misjudged Bloody Sunday. Nominated by Geoffrey Peter, PipsFunFacts and Robert Kaye‏.

7. Ed Miliband, 2015. Robert Kaye.‏ Several nominations for David Miliband were of course rejected.

8. Boris Johnson, 2016, 2017. I wonder if Johnson might have been, or might still be, a good prime minister, but I realise this is not a fashionable view. He also raises a problem for the recent end of the list, in that he might still make it – even though his stock seems to be falling fast.

9. Andrea Leadsom, 2016. She at least made it to the run-off with Tory party members against Theresa May. The only poll of them had May ahead by 63 to 31 per cent, but who knows what would have happened in a campaign had Leadsom not pulled out after her “as a mother” interview with The Times? Proposed by Mick Keith and Kobi Weiner.

10. Jeremy Corbyn, 2017. Nominated by the Whitehall Dandy‏, “as I’d like the 1970s to stay there thanks”. According to the bookmakers, Corbyn is more likely than either Johnson or Leadsom to allow us to find out quite how bad a prime minister he would be.

Nominations for Viscount Castlereagh, Aneurin Bevan, George Brown, Keith Joseph, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock (borderline) and Iain Duncan Smith were not accepted because they did not get close enough to being prime minister.

Further nominations for William Whitelaw and Kenneth Clarke were turned down because I think they would have been good prime ministers.

Next week: Once familiar smells, such as steam engines, cap guns and smoking carriages on trains

Coming soon: Best Debut Albums, a guest list by Andrew Sentance

The e-book of Listellany: A Miscellany of Very British Top Tens, From Politics to Pop is just £3.79. Your suggestions, and ideas for future Top 10s, in the comments please, or to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk