Gordon Brown voted third worst post-war Prime Minister by historians

By Daniel Martin

 Winston Churchill once declared that history would judge him kindly because he would write it himself.

But the same cannot be said for Gordon Brown, it seems, as historians have already delivered their verdict.

The academics have voted the former Labour leader the third worst prime minister since the war.

No 10 welcome: Gordon Brown trailed in third last in the poll of prime ministers, while Mrs Thatcher was second only to Clement Attlee

He comes tenth out of the 12 post-war premiers, ahead of Sir Anthony Eden and Sir Alec Douglas-Home - two men who have long been associated with failure.

David Cameron was not included in the survey, as he has only just taken office.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS' SUCCESS RATING

1. Clement Attlee (Labour, 1954-51, pictured above)

3. Tony Blair (Labour, 1997-07)

4. Harold Macmillan (Conservative, 1957-63)

5. Harold Wilson (Labour, 1964-70, 1974-76)

6. Winston Churchill (Conservative, 1951-55)

7. James Callaghan (Labour, 1976-79)

8. John Major (Conservative, 1990-97)

9. Edward Heath (Conservative, 1970-74)

10.Gordon Brown (Labour, 2007-10)

11. Sir Alec Douglas-Home (Conservative, 1963-64)

12. Sir Anthony Eden (Conservative, 1955-57)

It means Mr Brown is considered by experts to be the biggest prime ministerial failure for more than 45 years.

The poll of more than 100 academics found that although Mr Brown should be congratulated on his response to the banking crisis, he should be considered a failure because of the huge debt he left behind.

By contrast, his predecessor and bitter rival Tony Blair came third in the list of success, only marginally behind Margaret Thatcher.

Top, by a wide margin, was Labour's post-war leader Clement Attlee who between 1945 and 1951 set up the welfare state and established the NHS.

Harold Macmillan, dubbed Supermac when he led the Tories from 1957 to 1963 and told Britons they had 'never had it so good', came in at number four.

Labour's Harold Wilson (1964-70 and 1974-6) was fifth, while Winston Churchill only came sixth for his peacetime stint as premier from 1951 to 1955.

James Callaghan-who led Labour during the notorious-Winter of Discontent, came higher in the survey than both John Major and Edward Heath, who took Britain into the EU but whose premiership was marred by arguments with the miners.

Next on the list is Brown, followed by Douglas-Home - who was only leader of the Conservatives for a year as the party floundered in the wake of the Profumo scandal.

Languishing at the bottom was Sir Anthony Eden, who led Britain into the disastrous Suez invasion.

Mark Gill, of Woodnewton Associates, who helped run the survey, said Mr Blair's time in charge had been judged by academics as being a benefit for society and the constitution.

But his foreign policy - which included the invasion of Iraq in 2003 - was given a poor mark. Lady Thatcher was the only prime minister to emerge well in terms of foreign policy.

Mr Gill said: 'Tony Blair's performance as prime minister is clouded by his decision to take part in the Iraq war.

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'Almost two thirds of academics say this was his biggest failure. No other prime minister since 1945 has one issue so closely associated with their reputation.'

The academics are scathing about the damage that Mr Brown wrought on the Labour party - saying that his influence was worse than Sir John's Major's influence on the Tory party.

 Sir Anthony Eden, left, had a difficult premiership which came to an end in 1957 as a result of the Suez crisis. Right, Winston Churchill's second period in Downing Street was also a disappointment to many

His monumental 1997 defeat following years of damaging internal rifts over Europe left the Conservatives out of power for 13 years.

TODAY'S POLL

Who do you think has been the worst post-war Prime Minister?

 Kevin Theakston, the professor at Leeds University who compiled the survey, said length of service was an important factor in determining how well prime ministers did in the survey.

He said: 'Each of the top five PMs served at least six years in Downing Street. In the bottom half of the table, only Major had two terms in office, serving for seven years.'

David Cameron was not included in the survey, as he has only just taken over.

Only five of the 12 prime ministers since the war have been Labour. However, they are more likely to be in the top half of the table than Tory ones - meaning the average Labour prime minister is seen as being more successful.