Irrespective of which side they are from. Tony Benn, Dennis Skinner are two for me, used to think Vince Cable was ok but have changed my mind. I like Paddy pants down for his work in Bosnia and Chris Patten for his work in Hong Kong.

Of the current crop no one raises their head above the gutter, this question was prompted by listening to some no mark this morning saying what a great thing it was to have capped the increase in train fares. Seemed to ignore the question that similar season tickets in germany are way cheaper.

For the most part they are scum.

It’s also hard to respect people who vote for the worst of them knowing how corrupt, arrogant and self serving they are.

An example of this is local MP and expenses fiddler Hazel Blears. What a poisonous undersized witch.

Are there any politicians you actually respect

Who?

🙄

Under the politics and religion section, my Facebook page states

Lying thieving cheating scumbags the lot of them, apart from Buddhists.

I wrote that about 8 years ago and think its truer today than when I wrote it.

chris patton seemed fine when he was half a world a way, his stint at the bbc showed that his best days are definitely behind him!

its hard to look past the web of PR and spin and party BS they are surrounded in to see most of them as anything other than first class ****

If it’s any consolation the Spanish ones are just as bad, or even worse.

im not sure coolhandluke

buddhists not always nice
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22356306

kimbers – Member

im not sure coolhandluke

buddhists not always nice
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22356306

Is it because they stand their ground?

😈

George Osborne

Gary Kasparov

Putin … he takes his shirt off.

Sadly the days of conviction politicians such as Benn, Skinner, Thatcher , Foot etc are long behind us, now you have a professional class of politician who basically has no real outside experience of life but that of that in the gravy train, from university politics straight into a job working for a politician or party and then through promotion up to an MP.
If your mates cant get you into a safe seat as an MP, don’t worry, there’s always opportunities in Brussels, the local council or Quango.
I blame the electorate, someone has to vote for them, its not a complete charade!

I don’t vote labour, but for the best parliamentarian is Dennis Skinner who has stuck to his socialist beliefs. He was on the radio a number of years ago where he said if someone came to him with a problem he would try and help them, irrespective of their political persuasion

Tony Benn

Became a better politician in his later years, commenting from the backbenches rather than being part of the inner circle. To be honest most of the more honest politicians are not part of the inner circle, the power there seems to corrupt, and the party whip system is too strong.

Keith Vaz

(Oops sorry, I misread the title) 😉

Yes

Francis Urquhart?

I respected Benn a lot, but unfortunately that has been somewhat undermined by the nepotism – In many ways its understandable, everyone wants to see the best for their kids and grandkids, but given everything he’s said over the years, I think its done his legacy a great disservice.

Ken Livingstone really shone through for his conviction, but again the foreman job led to greedy tax dodging.

I have to bear a grudging respect for Mandelson, as a truly great political survivor, and Blair for so many reasons, despite still thinking he’s a lying c**t responsible for so many bad things.

Hague, the bolt was shot too early – I think he could have been a great leader, I believe both sides see him as a true parliamentarian.

Most of all, I think that for his background and vision, Neil Kinnock – hampered by a truly broken party, possibly one of the best prime ministers we never had.

Chris Mullin

MP for Sunderland South

Margaret Hodge seems to be almost alone in appearing to actually be on our side, rather than doing the bidding of corporate paymasters.

It’s been refreshing to see her tearing into a corporate ‘elite’ who’ve grown accustomed to doing whatever they please, without being called to account by anyone

Why are these people selected to represent their parties if they’re so bad?

I do think mostly politicians want to do the right thing in their role – some of them just get a bit carried away with milking the system.

George Galloway

This Margaret Hodge?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjD8fytrrZY[/video]

Oh gawd…I kinda agree with Zulu. 😡

Especially wrt Kinnock.

Why are these people selected to represent their parties if they’re so bad?

Because that’s what the modern parties want, centralised power, and an obedient parliamentary membership.

Alex Salmond. Surely our greatest living politician and a man driven by a passion for his people and his country.

I am not sure too many social workers in Islington would agree with your choice Binners. But at least dear Margaret does a great job at highlighting that it’s not just Tory RWers who now how to minimise their corporate tax affairs. I admire a politician who can bring balance to the debate and such a broad perspective.

With Kinnoch, our great loss was Europe’s gain. A noble sacrifice from the citizens of the UK.

Darcy:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF52Lh7uVGk[/video]

Even I’d bloody vote for him after that 😀

I am sure there are many decent politicians, they just don’t have a high national public profile . The well known corrupt and incapable spongers have done us all wrong but to tar all politicians with the same brush won’t help. The need is to change the system without throwing out the good politicians along with those who are corrupt and or incompetent .
Malcolm Rifkind was someone I fundamentally disagreed with on almost every issue but found him reasonable honest and principled.

no none

Don’t know why the Welsh Windbag has such a high reputation for telling the Labour Pains the blindingly obvious, losing an election by acting like a prat at the Sheffield conference, accepting a Lordship after opposing the system for years and ending up in a feather-bedded sinecure courtesy of Brussels.

Pah.

I always thought John Major was alright – and appeared to be doing it for mostly the right reasons…

Not since John Smith died.

Angela Merkel?

Angela Merkel is just as beholden to the German press as any UK politician is to fleet street.

Woppit you didnt mention that the Welsh windbag was also ginger, surely that must come into your condemnation of the man.

Not perfect, but I think Pierre Trudeau was remarkable by any standards, while one of his successors, Jean Chretien was also pretty good.

Although Canadian, and therefore below most people’s radar, both men are worth a look-in.

george galloway

Got to give Tom Watson his due:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMC1HxjpQu0[/video]

George Galloway has already been mentioned, but it’s worth expanding on:

Killing of Tony Blair

Loads and loads of politicians out there working very hard and doing a great job for their constituents. Problem is that their work rarely gets reported. It’s the bad ones that get the media attention.

Our system isn’t perfect, and not all politicians are little angels, but compared to many other countries we are very lucky.

Why not go speak to your local MP, find out what he does and what a typical day is like. I suspect many of you will be surprised.