Ben@Forest wrote:Looking at politicians who'd be in the right age group and history and who were never Prime Minister (German Chancellor), which seems to be a feature of the German system, our current president would be someone like William Hague, or David Miliband, or Esther McVey, or Sajid Javid (though all possibly a bit young); maybe Peter Mandelson, or Chris Patten, or David Davis, or David Blunkett?
I think most of those you mention rose too high, becoming leader of the opposition or occupying a great office of state and often quite divisively. I suspect a better idea may be either looking at the list of Father/Mother of the House:
Peter Bottomley, Ken Clarke, Gerald Kaufman, Peter Tapsell, Alan Williams, Tam Dalyell, Bernard Braine, John Parker, George Strauss, Robin Turton, Rab Butler...
or searching for "best prime minister we never had":
Alan Johnson, Michael Hesetine, Ken Clarke, Hazel Blears, Barbara Castle, Evan Durbin, Iain Macleod, Tony Benn...
and removing those who held too many of Home/Foreign/Treasury or held them too long (I've removed the most obvious ones).
Psamathe wrote:I have the impression (maybe incorrectly) that the post of "President" in many respects is either elected ineffectual overseer or replaces the functions of our PM.
One's ineffectual overseer is another's peacemaker, but in general I think that fair. I wonder if it hinges on whether the executive (cabinet in the UK) is appointed in practice by the executive leader (as in the UK and Germany) or by the president (as in France and USA).