Astrology and News
The next British Prime Minister - star signs to choose, star signs to avoid
The Labour party of Gordon Brown has just been smashed at the Crewe bye-election. Whether one uses common sense, gut feelings, political analysis or plain, simple astrology, it’s clear that Gordon Brown’s in the wrong job, though astrology would have given some early warnings. So, who’s next? Or rather, who should be next? Clearly if Gordon Brown stays in office, and Fate doesn’t intervene, it’ll be David Cameron - which for astrological reasons would be bad new for Britain.
I can use a number of sophisticated astrological techniques to work out which politician has the best and worst horoscope, but let’s keep things simple. We can focus on the star signs, and see which Prime Ministers have been most successful, and have caused least damage to the country. ‘Least damage’ really is the operative phrase, because politicians, of all parties, tend to make things worse.
I’ll now go through the twelve signs, giving each a ‘Prime Minister rating’, one star being abysmal, five stars being brilliant. These ratings are only applicable to the UK.
Aries - 3 stars Logically Aries should be the best sign for a British Prime Minister. In Greek and Roman astrology, North West Europe was ruled by Aries, and one of the horoscopes most used for England, the coronation of William the Conqueror on Christmas Day 1066, has Aries rising, assuming the coronation happened around midday. Since the Second World War there have been two Aries Prime Ministers, namely John Major and James Callaghan. Both Prime Ministers are usually given poor ratings by political historians, and their governments were characterised by argument and disintegration. Yet many of their problems were not of their own making, and were caused by their predecessors. I therefore don’t think we can say that Ariens are necessarily bad for the country. The last Aries to be a Prime Minister before John Major was the Earl of Derby, who was Prime Minister three times, finally leaving office in 1868. He was the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party.
Taurus - 2 stars Tony Blair was the last Taurean Prime Minister. Iraq aside, the jury’s still out on him. The Taurean Prime Minister before him was the Earl of Rosebery, who was Prime Minister for just over a year in the 1890s. Before that, the Duke of Wellington. In general it’s probably best to avoid Taurean leaders, because they can become dictatorial. For example, Pol Pot, Lenin, Hitler and Robespierre.
Gemini - 3 stars In the modern era there has only been one Gemini Prime Minister, namely Anthony Eden, who, Gordon Brown aside, is often seen as the worst post-war Prime Minister. But was his decision to get involved in Suez any worse that Tony Blair’s decision to help invade Iraq? If one goes back to the early Nineteenth Century, we discover that Lord Liverpool was also a Gemini. He was Prime Minister for nearly fifteen years at a stretch, longer than either Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair. Surely he got something right? Pitt the Younger was another Gemini - in 1798 he introduced Britain’s first income tax. Clever Gemini, thinking of new ways to raise money!
Cancer - 1 star The Conservative party had two Cancerian leaders in a row, namely Sir Alec Douglas Home and Edward Heath. Sir Alec was Prime Minister for only a year, Edward Heath’s premiership was destroyed by the unions. A star sign best avoided!
Leo - 2 stars It’s true Leo Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister for much of the 1920s and 1930s, but was he good for Britain? It was a time of economic decline, that took us towards the Second World War. He must also take some responsibility for appeasing Hitler. Before Baldwin there was Arthur Balfour, who had difficulty holding his government together. His Conservative goverment was defeated by the huge Liberal landslide of 1906. The stronger Leos can be dictatorial - for example, Napoleon, Fidel Castro, Benito Mussolini and Hugo Chavez.
Virgo - 3 stars The Liberal landslide of 1906 brought in a Virgo Prime Minister, Henry Campbell-Bannerman. It was this government that brought in reforms that were the precursor of the welfare state, for example pensions and sick pay. He resigned through ill health, and actually died while he was still resident in Downing Street. His successor, Herbert Asquith, was also a Virgo, and continued the reform program. The last Virgo Prime Minister was Andrew Bonar Law. He wasn’t Prime Minister for very long, and he was dead within six months of leaving office. Incidentally the close of Asquith’s premiership had a sense of tragedy. He was the Prime Minister that took Britain into the First World War, and less than three months before his resignation one of his sons was killed at the Battle of the Somme.
Libra - 2 stars Margaret Thatcher is a Libran. Obviously a strong personality, but I’m not sure if she was very good for her country. She curtailed the power of the unions, but while she was in office Britain’s industrial base got clobbered. Ramsey McDonald, the first Labour Prime Minister, was also Libran. He cooperated with the Conservatives, leading a national government, and was eventually expelled from his own party for treachery. Nineteenth Century Prime Minister Lord Palmerston was another Libran. He certainly stood up for Britain’s interests, and is particularly associated with gunboat diplomacy - using the power of the navy to strength the country’s diplomatic hand. And let’s not forget that Margaret Thatcher sent a naval task force to the Falklands Islands, to liberate them from Argentina. Incidentally Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a Libran. Like Lord Palmerston and Margaret Thatcher, Putin’s good at boosting his country’s power, but maybe only a narrow segment of people get to benefit.
Scorpio - 1 star The last Scorpio Prime Minister was Lord Goderich, who was in office from August 31 1827 to January 21 1828. He was famous for crying when he couldn’t form a government. The Scorpio Prime Minister before Lord Goderich was Spencer Perceval, who was assassinated in 1812.
Sagittarius - 4 stars Winston Churchill was a Sagittarian and so was Benjamin Disraeli. They’re considered to be two of Britain’s greatest Prime Ministers, and interestingly they were both distinguished writers.
Capricorn - 5 stars Going back to Britain’s 1066 horoscope, and we’re a Capricorn country, born on Christmas Day. Since the beginning of the Nineteenth Century there have been three Capricorn Prime Ministers, namely William Gladstone, David Lloyd George and Clement Attlee. All three were social reformers, all three had a big impact on the society in which they lived. Many regard Clement Attlee as being Britain’s best Prime Minister, not least for his establishment of the welfare state, which included the National Health Service.
Aquarius - 4 stars Harold Macmillan was an Aquarian, and his time in office was marked by stability and growth. As he famously said, ‘our people have never had it so good’. Another Aquarian Prime Minister was Lord Salisbury. He was in and out of power at the end of the Nineteenth Century, and was widely respected.
Pisces - 0 stars It’s not possible to give Pisces any stars. The most accomplished of the three Piscean Prime Ministers of the modern era was Harold Wilson. But in spite of his intelligence and charisma, he didn’t live up to his promise, and by the time he left office Britain was an economic wreck. The same can probably be said for Gordon Brown, minus the charisma. Yet the worst Piscean of them all was Neville Chamberlain, who allowed Hitler to occupy Czechoslovakia - if he’d stood up to Hitler the Second World War and all its horrors would almost certainly never have happened.
Now we’ve been through the twelve signs, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what sign we don’t want the next Prime Minister to have, and that’s got to be Pisces. This means that Ed Balls and James Purnell, who are both named as possible replacements for Gordon Brown, are fundamentally unsuitable. It should also be noted that the first Pisces to be leader the Labour Party was George Lansbury, in the early 1930s. He was a militant if principled pacifist, who seemed to believe in talking to dictators rather than stopping them. A case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions!
Another possible candidate for the Labour leadership is Cancerian David Miliband. It’s a sign that doesn’t have a great track record, and although he’s the front runner to succeed Gordon Brown, I’m not convinced that he’s astrologically suitable.
Then there’s Hilary Benn, who is a Sagittarian - the sign of Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli. But it would be really good if the Labour party could find a Capricorn to lead them. Capricorns are natural born politicians, and they’re particularly suited to left-of-centre politics. Yet Capricorns have a slow-burning charisma, and I doubt they’ve got enough time to work their magic in the one or two year run up to the next election.
As I’ve suggested in previous articles, the Conservatives have their own problems. David Cameron is a Libran, and Librans, to function properly in politics, have to be tough. Think Margaret Thatcher, Lord Palmerston, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi. I don’t think Cameron fits in with this list, and several years down the line, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s more of a Ramsey McDonald figure - he wants inclusion, he wants to be nice to everyone, but in the end he could be accused by his own party of betrayal.
Under these circumstances, David Cameron should quit while he’s ahead - he could still still lose the next election, if Gordon Brown stands down and the Labour Party finds the perfect candidate. As far as replacements for Cameron are concerned, Gemini George Osborne is a possibility. Or even a return to the top spot by William Hague, an Aries. Though having looked at William Hague’s Hindu chart, I’m not sure that’s going to happen.
But maybe the Conservatives should go for an Aquarian - a modern day Harold Macmillan or Lord Salisbury? Strangely, at the moment the Labour Government has no Aquarian cabinet ministers, and neither are there any Aquarians in the Conservative shadow cabinet. At least I couldn’t find any. Perhaps Aquarians are too sensible, or too independent-minded, to get involved in the upper echelons of British politics?
So what is going to happen? The Thatcher-Blair superstar era is over, and we’re going to return to normal politics. You won’t get one party being in power for ten years or more, you’ll instead have constant alternation, with a change of Prime Minister every few years. It’s probably healthier and more democratic that way. But in the mean time, the Labour Party must keep looking for its Capricorn. He or she has got to be somewhere!