Sir John Major warns against treating politics as a ‘game show’

Sir John Major has warned against treating politics as a “game show” and the dangers of changing prime ministers too often.

The former Conservative prime minister said governments have “lost the capacity to say no” rather than risk losing votes.

In an interview with the BBC, Sir John said: “It’s not a game show, you are not there just to provide fodder for the media and project your own career.

“You’re there to deal with problems that the ordinary people elect you to do.

“They say you can’t do that, you’ll lose votes. Really? When you’re setting out a policy that will… ease the lives of their children and their grandchildren?

“Are we so self-centred that we can’t take in that message? I don’t believe it.

“The first role of any government, in my view, is to leave something better for the next generation than your generation inherited. And this is not done now.”

Sir Keir Starmer, who defeated a bid to launch an inquiry into claims he misled Parliament over the Lord Mandelson affair on Tuesday, is the UK’s fifth prime minister since David Cameron left office following the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Sir John declined to offer public advice to a Labour successor, but warned against a frequent turnover at No 10.

“The fate of individual politicians doesn’t really matter as much as the development of the right policy,” he said.

“It isn’t a good idea to keep changing prime ministers. I think it is an idea to have a limited number of years.

“I think the Americans who have two terms of a president and then stop. I think that is sensible.”