on Andrew Marr; he comes across as a real leader.

I was impressed by John Major when he was Foreign Secretary. Then he seemed to lose some confidence when he became PM. Maybe he just thought he couldn't adequately follow Mrs T.

I met John years ago through my then membership of the tory party.Back well before he became anyone important.
He's ruthless,but you'd never suspect or notice.Treat anything he says with a pinch of salt.He'll say or do anything to get what/where he wants.
He came out of nowhere to be probally the worst prime minister since Heath.

John Major wasn't a bad Prime Minister, he just wasn't one of the best. His main achievement was the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Even Tony Blair said that it could not have succeeded without John major who lay the main foundations.

Solihull Exile wrote:

He's ruthless,but you'd never suspect or notice.Treat anything he says with a pinch of salt.He'll say or do anything to get what/where he wants.
He came out of nowhere to be probally the worst prime minister since Heath.

Aye, he was a disaster as the PM... he seemed too weak and pathetic. I'll never forget when Norman Lamont was Chancellor, The Mirror once did a front page with them as Laurel and Hardy!

But... like you say Solihull Exile, you can never under-estimate the man. The biggest surprise/shock was learning of his affair with Edwina Currie which until Currie revealed it seemed completely unthinkable and bizarre but proved that Major could and can be calculating when need be.

Of course he was ruthless - there's no way anyone could possibly rise to even front-line politics (never mind PM) without being absolutely completely ruthless. That he came across as a mild-mannered gentleman was a public relations PR coup. You couldn't possibly rise above Thatcher, Hesletine & Clarke by being a sap! Mind you having been slammed in between Thatcher (the ultimate eat-politics, breath-politics politican and someone who had to be the ultimate in ruthlessness to break through into politics at that time let alone rise to the top) and Blair (a man with no principles whatsoever) he would seem mild.
He speak a lot of sense this morning though to give him his due - and somebody has to!