John Major Advocates Term Limits for UK Prime Ministers, Drawing on US Model

And this is not done now," Major stated. He noted that the youngsters of today are inheriting a more difficult world than his generation did. Major felt "very strongly" about the reluctance to tackle these challenges.

Major warned that without a new generation of young people who value public service entering politics, 'we are in deep doodah'. He urged young people to join politics, saying, "Well, I would say to young people, we need you in politics. " At age 13, Major was inspired to enter politics after a chance meeting with his local MP, Marcus Lipton, who arranged a visit to the Commons.

He criticized the growing number of professional politicians in all parties, noting that Labour MPs used to be working-class people without money or privilege who knew their constituents, but now they are younger, better educated, and less close to them.

On the Conservative side, he asked where the businessmen and soldiers are, saying such figures, once a staple in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, are now sparse on the benches. Major, the last prime minister not to go to university, won the 1992 election with the most votes ever recorded for a British political party.

In 1995, he faced down internal party division by challenging rivals to 'put up or shut up'. That year, Sir John Major defeated Tory MP John Redwood in a ballot of his MPs. "The best aphrodisiac in politics is hope.

If people can see a change, there's a change in atmosphere," Major said. He added that the job of being prime minister is undoubtedly getting harder, in part due to social media, though he declined to give public advice to a Labour prime minister.