7 Worst Politicians In Doctor Who

5. The Doctor

Doctor Who Hell Bent Peter Capaldi
BBC

Across the character's many regenerations, the Doctor has held various positions of political power. The Twelfth Doctor became President Of Earth on a few different occasions, and in The Invasion Of Time, the Fourth Doctor returns to Gallifrey and claims the title of President, giving him rule over his home world.

Normally though, the Doctor doesn't tend to abuse the power that these positions grant. Sure, in The Invasion Of Time, the Fourth Doctor does use his presidency to help the Vardans invade Gallifrey, but ultimately, he's only doing this to try and stop them. On the other hand, things are a lot different in Hell Bent, where the Twelfth Doctor uses his power for wholly selfish reasons, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.

In this story, the Doctor overthrows Rassilon to become Lord President Of Gallifrey, earning the respect and trust of the Time Lord General in the process. In reality though, the Doctor doesn't care about the Time Lords, about Gallifrey, about being an actual leader: all he wants to do is bring Clara back to life.

To that end, he exploits the Time Lords' fear of the Hybrid so that they'll help him access an extraction chamber, where he pulls Clara out of her death, an act that, according to the General, could "fracture time itself". Not a great start, Doc. Speaking of the General, the Doctor then shoots him, runs off with Clara, steals a TARDIS (again), and flies away, leaving Gallifrey in a worse position than he found it.

The Doctor wasn't president for very long here, but he sure did leave an impact - and not a good impact - during his brief time in office.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!