''12 people and things that ruined British politics'' Tunku Varadarajan

''Tunku Varadarajan is executive editor at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is a contributing editor at POLITICO Europe.

On December 12, the United Kingdom will conclude the tawdriest election in memory — which is saying a lot, given how inglorious the last one was in 2017.

That election confirmed Theresa May as prime minister — arguably Britain’s second-worst leader since Lord North, the man who lost America in the 18th century. (The worst PM since North is agreed to be David Cameron, for his decision to have a Brexit referendum in 2016, the results of which have poisoned British politics ever since.)

Looking at Boris Johnson, the prime minister, and at Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, one is hard-pressed to find in history a less edifying pair of party leaders in competition for No. 10 Downing Street.

1. Winston Churchill & Charles de Gaulle

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