Judgement on Blair's legacy

Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:00 AM

A poll of experts has placed Tony Blair sixth in a league table of the most successful prime ministers.

The Mori poll commissioned by the University of Leeds asked 139 history and politics experts to rank 20 premiers in terms of how successfully they led the country.

Clement Attlee, whose Labour administration founded the welfare state after the Second World War, came top.

Mr Attlee scored an average of 8.34 out of ten.

Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill came second on 7.88 ahead of Liberal David Lloyd George on 7.33.

The first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher came fourth (7.14) before Conservative leader Harold Macmillan in fifth (6.49). Mr Blair received a score of 6.30.

John Major was placed 15th.

Anthony Eden was rated the least successful on 2.53. He was forced to resign in 1957 after the Suez debacle.

Mr Blair has pledged to serve a third term of office and has already made history by being the first Labour Prime Minister to serve two consecutive terms in office.

From a list of 20, experts were also asked to state three characteristics a successful premier possessed.

Leadership (64 per cent), sound judgement (42 per cent) and crisis management (24 per cent) were the top three.

The bottom three came in as honesty, down-to-earth qualities and a sound grasp of economics.

The Mori survey - conducted online between September 27th and November 5th - was revealed at the Political Studies Association Awards at the Institute of Directors last night.

Kevin Theakston, a professor at Leeds University, said reputations were akin to stock market fluctuations as they changed rapidly with the times.

"There is a sense that Blair is a work in progress," he said.

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