Gordon Brown one of worst PMs for stock market returns
Gordon Brown has narrowly missed being in the bottom five prime ministers for stock market returns in his first year as leader since David Lloyd George took on the role in 1916, figures from Fidelity International have shown.
Since Brown took over the top spot a year ago, the London Stock Exhange has fallen 15.4 per cent, excluding dividends, Fidelity said.
This was only marginally worse than the first years under Margaret Thatcher, Neville Chamberlin, Winston Churchill - twice - and Lloyd George himself.
All these prime ministers, with the exception of Chamberlain, presided over the country as the LSE fell more than 20 per cent in a year.
These drops contrast sharply with Tony Blair's first year in power, which saw a stockmarket return of 22.4 per cent - the best market return over the period - just pipping Edward Heath, who saw a return of 21 per cent in his first year as prime minister.
John Major, Clement Atlee and Stanley Baldwin also saw strong stockmarkets in their first year, the data said.