The removal vans are on standby and the political obituaries are already in: Theresa May is the “worst prime minister in British history”. Don’t believe me? Ask her own MPs (Well, before she agreed to resign, that is). But is this entirely fair? In a memorable scene from Fawlty Towers, the proprietor, Basil Fawlty, is told by an angry American that his hotel is the “worst-run hotel in the whole of western Europe”. Fortunately the Major, one of Fawlty’s loyal guests, is on hand to leap to his defence: “No! No! I won’t have that — there’s a place in Eastbourne.” That May has been a hopeless prime minister few can deny. But the records of some of her predecessors are even worse.

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