Has to be John Smith. A real shame he died at a relatively young age for a politician. He commanded great respect and i feel would have been great for our country. Would also hopefully have prevented the rise of Tony Blair. In fact i also feel nostalgic about John Major and his green peas, the acceptable face of conservatism after the greed and butchery of the Thatcher years.
Tony's a nice bloke, but not PM material. I'd go for Michael Heseltine. please log in to view this image
The reputation of John Smith as a great politician remains intact BECAUSE he didn't become Prime Minister. It's much like the way JFK is remembered as a great President, simply because he died in office before he had the chance to become unpopular. If he hadn't been assassinated we would probably remember him today as a sleaze-ball who was impeached and brought shame on his nation. John Smith was a good politician but if he'd gone on to become PM he would be just as disliked as the rest of them, in this age of cynicism and apathy. ps Tony Benn is a prick and a backstabber who caused huge problems for Labour and kept them out of power for over a decade (and let Thatcher dominate 80s politics.)
It's been reported that Ian Paisley is suffering from dementia, he's been seen walking around Belfast shouting `NO REMEMBER!'