Where Theresa May sits in the line-up of bad prime ministers

May was handed a poisoned chalice but she arguably made things worse by her own mistakes

Theresa May
Theresa May announces that she will resign on 7 June 
(Image credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images)

It is, of course, too early to make a balanced judgement about Theresa May’s legacy. That can really only happen once Brexit is resolved. But we already have some sense of where she will sit in the hall of fame dedicated to bad prime ministers.

Some ground rules for this discussion, first. It seems reasonable to exclude the 19th-century prime ministers, for a start. Some of them were truly awful, but they were not operating in anything that looks like a modern political system. However, even if we confine ourselves to the period since 1918, when something resembling a modern franchise was introduced, it’s a competitive league for the title of worst prime minister.

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