ANALYSIS

AS the UK Government’s Brexit strategy lurches from farce to crisis it is worth reflecting on the record of the former Prime Minister, whose decisions have led the country to a potentially ruinous "no deal" departure from the EU.

David Cameron quit Downing Street within days of finding himself on the losing side of the 2016 referendum and has barely been seen since. How will history judge his six-year tenure?

Political leaders are obsessed with their legacy. Dick Morris, who advised Bill Clinton in the 1990s, recounted a chat with his ex-boss about what it took to be considered a great president. Clinton was disappointed to hear he only had a shot at the “second tier”, which he never made.

Grading the 14 individuals who have entered and left Downing Street since the Second World War is not an easy task. Reaching agreed criteria is impossible and judgments tend to be clouded by ideological preferences. But here goes.

Leaders in the “tier one” category are Prime Ministers who were able to push through radical changes which were subsequently accepted by voters and the Opposition.

Two PMs stand out: Clement Attlee, whose administration gave the country a welfare state and the NHS; and Margaret Thatcher, whose economic reforms fundamentally changed the UK. You do not have to agree with either figure to accept they were transformative leaders.

Edward Heath can lay claim to being in the second tier. Despite getting kicked out of office after one term, the “Grocer” was determined to take Britain into the European Economic Community, an ambition he achieved.

Tony Blair is a middle rung Prime Minister. His Government made substantial progress in reducing poverty, strengthening public services and reforming the constitution, but Iraq knocked him down. Tory Harold Macmillan, who watched the shop as Prime Minister for six years, and Labour’s Harold Wilson, are also at this level.

Then you have the “fag end” PMs, those leaders who either seemed at the mercy of events, or were destined to lose elections. Gordon Brown is a good example, as was Jim Callaghan and the hapless John Major. Churchill’s short stint in the early fifties was also unmemorable.

The stragglers are at the bottom. Tory Alec Douglas-Home was a nonentity and departed after less than a year. Anthony Eden’s inglorious spell in charge was scarred by the Suez Crisis.

Cameron should fear the wrath of history. He had six years in office – longer than Attlee and Heath – but his legacy will be defined by leaving the EU, a move he feared would be a disaster.

Consider why this happened. Other than for political obsessives on the right, an in/out referendum was only cited as a priority by a tiny proportion of voters. Cameron foisted a trainspotter issue that divided his party onto the whole country.

And during the referendum, when Boris Johnson and Michael Gove made outlandish claims about the so-called Brexit dividend, he kept quiet for fear of splitting the Tories. At all times, Cameron put party above country.

Danny Dyer, an actor in EastEnders, summed up our reclusive former Prime Minister: “Where is he? He’s in Europe, in Nice with his trotters up. Where is the geezer? I think he should be held accountable for it. T**t.”

Cameron was an effective opposition leader who took his party into power for the first time this century. For that the Tories should be grateful. But a three star MP became a one star Prime Minister. At least Douglas-Home didn’t do any damage.