George Osborne | The Spectator columnists & writers

‘So what did he say?’ I asked the ministerial friend who went to tell Boris last week he had to resign. ‘Well, he told me a long story about a relative of his who got caught up in a planning dispute, barricaded himself inside his house and the police had to come in force to drag him out. I think it means he’s not going quietly.’ At one level, politics is unpredictable; but enduring political rules apply. Boris told me years ago that while he wasn’t a team player, he could be a good team leader. For all his infectious optimism, it turns out that’s not possible. Downing Street will feel like being at a wake. Hushed voices. No one wanting to upset the family. Mourning the power that has recently departed. Perhaps a drink or two.

My encounter with Sue Gray

I only voted in one no-confidence motion. The leader was Iain Duncan Smith, and it was a bit awkward. I spent hours every week helping Iain with Prime Minister’s Questions, and felt sorry for him. At the same time, his leadership was a disaster. Indeed, Tony Blair was going easy on him in the chamber just to keep him alive. So what to do? On the morning of the vote, I conferred with two other new MPs in the PMQ team — David Cameron and Boris Johnson. We all agreed he had to go and swore a pact. So off I went to cast my ballot. A few hours later, the deputy chief whip asked me if I’d seen Boris. He was the only MP who hadn’t voted yet. I set off to look and saw him heading for the gates out of Westminster. Flustered, he said he didn’t have time to vote as he had to go and edit The Spectator.

My night of nostalgia with Boris and co.

Rishi Sunak had a pre-game Twix and a Sprite to prepare for this week’s impressive Budget. I used to have a cup of very sugary tea. It was a tip from our joint mentor, William Hague. It coats the throat in preparation for speaking in a rowdy chamber. Even then my voice would be hoarse by the end of an hour’s Budget statement. It’s hard to convey just how noisy it is standing there with a couple of hundred adults screaming at you from a few feet away. But on Wednesday the House of Commons seemed quieter than it used to be on these big days. I’m not sure why. With taxes going up, spending rising and government intervening in industry, you’d think there would be lots for Labour MPs to shout about. A strong commitment to the Northern Powerhouse and an increase in the national living wage we introduced are music to my ears.

George Osborne: Why I’m going into banking

Spring in Somerset — again. If someone had told me last February that I’d spend seven of the next 12 months here, I’d have explained that was impossible: I’ve always been a city boy. Three lockdowns later, and we’ve bought a home here. I love it. Snow, then snowdrops, now daffodils — and the wild garlic is coming up in the woods. Covid has converted me to the countryside. Bruton Place in Mayfair? Not for now. Bruton itself? Yes. There’s a Bruton Set, of course. They spend a lot of the time explaining why they didn’t want to be part of the Chipping Norton Set. I’ve met one of my heroes: Sir Don McCullin, the war photographer. He’s lived near here for decades. Before Christmas he showed me his archive of prints.

What I miss about general elections

One thing I miss about taking part in a general election is the travel. Really. I loved it. In 2015, I criss-crossed the country every day for a month in a helicopter, getting an amazing view of our islands as we descended on the marginals. That included a visit to Chorley in Lancashire, to buy its famous black pudding in the market there. The sitting Labour MP, Lindsay Hoyle, wasn’t the least bit worried. As the future Speaker said to me a couple of weeks later, when we were both safely back in the Commons: ‘George, the moment I heard your chopper land I knew I was safe.’ George Osborne's diary appears in this week's Spectator

George Osborne: The temptation of voting Lib Dem

Going to Pizza Express is a very usual thing for me to do, unlike Prince Andrew. I grew up in the branch on Notting Hill Gate. Family lunches, children’s birthdays, first dates and political summits all took place around its tables. In 2005 David Cameron and I went there for dinner to take stock of his campaign for the Tory leadership. My phone went off. It was the chancellor, Gordon Brown. He wanted to know whether I, as his shadow, would skip a key vote as he couldn’t make it. I politely said we should let the whips arrange the pairing. I held the phone to David’s ear as Gordon shouted that he’d ‘never been treated with such disrespect’ in all his 22 years in parliament. Then he hung up on me. Tucking into our American Hots, the two of us chuckled and decided: we can definitely beat this guy.

George Osborne: I tried to swap jobs with William Hague

I could be that rare thing: a former chancellor who is still a member of the Conservative party. Philip Hammond has lost the whip and will be expelled if he stands for election again. Ditto Ken Clarke. How times change. I remember a time when we were desperate to get Ken into the tent, not kick him out. Back in 2008, we wanted him to join our shadow cabinet. Tory wars had consigned us to opposition and we needed to end them. The negotiations were conducted in secret in case he said ‘no’, so we agreed to meet at my house rather than Westminster. It was all very cloak and dagger, or supposed to be. But then Ken didn’t show up. After a while, I went out on the street to look for him. There I found the ex-chancellor standing in his Hush Puppies in busy Notting Hill struggling to pay for his parking by mobile phone.

Diary - 14 March 2019

The best thing about the Evening Standard going to print at lunchtime is that we can be first to a story. The worst thing is that we can get that story wrong. On Monday, our splash headline about the Prime Minister and her Brexit deal was ‘Outnumbered. Outflanked. Out of time’. I thought we’d called it right. On Tuesday, I woke up to the headlines ‘May claims victory’ and wondered. Then Geoffrey Cox spoke and sank her premiership. Later that day he told the Commons it was highly unlikely David Cameron would ever have made him his attorney general. Geoffrey, you’re right. As this is The Spectator, we should talk up the benefits of Brexit. I’ve found one. I am back in touch with Mark Francois. Mark was a key member of my shadow Treasury team when I was shadow chancellor — and I’ve always liked him even if, now he’s part of the ERG, we don’t always see eye to eye.

Rex Tillerson has a simple way of dealing with Donald Trump’s tweets

I am hugely enjoying editing a paper with a much longer history than the Washington Post or, indeed, most British papers. The Evening Standard is over 190 years old. Proof it has always been read in high places came this month when a cutting dated 7 November 1889 was found under the floorboards of the monarch’s private apartments during renovation work at Buckingham Palace. Queen Victoria, like our growing number of readers, knew where to get the best news. Two of those who’ve made more than their share of news are former US Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and George Shultz. They invited me to a lunch last week with current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at Stanford University in California, where I periodically teach as a visiting professor.

Diary - 25 January 2018

We Citizens of Nowhere have made our home in Davos this week. Where else? Those who think we’re a remote global elite hiding away behind barbed wire in a luxury Swiss ski resort have decided to travel all the way here to tell us. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell is braving the Glühwein to lecture us on Marxism. Theresa May is back, flush from her successful outing last year when she warned the audience here that they’d lose elections unless they understood how out of touch they’d become. Donald Trump is swapping cheeseburgers for Swiss fondue on his mission to put America first. They are all welcome. Davos Man understands that the struggle takes many forms. One ritual at Davos remains the annual fondue dinner generously hosted by my friend Michael Spencer in a restaurant, and usually attended by David Cameron, myself and others.

Prince Philip is a remarkable man

All the papers have been filled with stories from people who have met the Duke of Edinburgh. I can now tell mine. Early on during my time at the Treasury, I was announced to the receiving line at the state banquet in Buckingham Palace for the President of Indonesia as ‘Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’. The President looked a little bemused, so the Duke turned to him and explained: ‘He’s the man in charge of all the money.’ He then paused, and added helpfully: ‘Except we haven’t got any money left.’ On another occasion, I found myself answering engineering questions from him about why we had chosen a pressurised water reactor design for the new Hinkley Point nuclear plant. The interrogation I faced from this remarkable nonagenarian, covered in medals and gold braid, was considerably more taxing than any I got on the issue from any parliamentary committee — or journalist.

How I almost became a victim of the moped muggers

Last Thursday lunchtime I was walking along Portland Place, outside the BBC’s HQ, and looking at my mobile at the same time. Suddenly a moped swooped past me on the pavement, and the passenger on the back reached out and tried to grab my phone. His hand slid off, the moped sped away, leaving me still clutching the phone and completely stunned. At next morning’s news conference, our picture editor said that he’d got hold of an extraordinary photo of two thugs on a moped, with the one on the back wielding a hammer. We put it on the front page, and it was picked up by the dailies. When we asked the sharp-witted photographer Ian Lawrence where and when the photo was taken, he replied: ‘Yesterday, on Portland Place.

Diary - 11 May 2017

George Osborne: diary of an editor

Watching the general election from my newsroom is an out-of-body experience. I’ve been involved in the last five general elections variously as photocopy boy, parliamentary candidate, shadow minister, campaign manager and chancellor. This time I’m reporting on the election as editor of the Evening Standard. I have a lot to learn; but I have a great team to help me. There is something remarkable, magical even, about the way every day tens of thousands of words are written on everything from the implications of the French election to Arsène Wenger, to this summer’s trendiest cocktails; then laid out on pages with striking pictures and adverts; printed on a million copies; and delivered to hundreds of tube stations, supermarkets and the like around our capital every afternoon — all so you can have in your hand a daily quality compendium on what’s going on in the world.

My time in the ‘Naughty Corner’

An unexpected silver lining to leaving government is that I have a much nicer parliamentary office. The Chancellor’s traditional room in the House of Commons is rather dank and gloomy, with peeling ceiling plaster. Despite repeated efforts by pest control, it is overrun with moths. As a backbencher, my new office is, by contrast, a large, bright room overlooking the Thames and the London Eye. The office used to belong to David Davis, who was — rather reluctantly, I understand — forced to vacate it on entering government. So far I have resisted the jovial advice from various fellow MPs to have my new room swept to make sure it is free of bugs of a different kind. My office sits on a corner of Portcullis House, which some have taken to calling the Naughty Corner.

My run-in with Ivanka Trump

I’ve never met Donald Trump, but I have come across his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared. I met them this summer at a media conference in Aspen organised by the great US network anchor and renaissance man Charlie Rose. It’s fair to say the event was not stuffed with Trump supporters, and there were a few crass barbs aimed at Ivanka. But she and her husband handled it all with great dignity. On the first night, I was heading up to my hotel room when I saw the two of them having a drink at the bar alone, and they asked me to join them. They were a serious, intelligent and modest couple. The first TV debate was just days away and I asked them what Donald was doing to prepare for it. They told me he was doing nothing.

Marmite, Toblerone and the other hidden costs of Brexit

One thing I won’t miss about No. 11 Downing Street are the Christmas cards: 2,056 Christmas cards to be exact. That was the number I had to sign every year. The recipients included 87 FTSE chief executives, 209 foreign dignitaries, six EU commissioners and one shadow chancellor. They all added up, and it involved several days of signing, and sore wrists. Every chancellor, prime minister and opposition leader I’ve known does the same. Judging by the thousands of cards I would receive, many must go unread. So I propose to my successors a Christmas truce. Only send cards to people you actually know. Give the money you save to a good charity and use your time more productively to, for example, run the country. Speaking of truces, I’ve decided that there’s no point bearing grudges about the referendum campaign and its aftermath.

Full text: George Osborne’s speech at the Spectator Parliamentarian awards

I am honoured to be invited to present these awards. Thank you very much for taking me out of my unemployment. When I read the Spectator front cover on the eve of the referendum, I thought it was advice on how to vote: ‘Out - and into the world’. But it turned out to be career advice to me. And of course, normally these annual awards are presented by last year’s winner of ‘Politician of the year’, David Cameron. And it’s another example of where he’s disappeared and left me holding the baby. I wanted to support the Spectator magazine - a brilliant weekly compendium on the arts, on politics, on society. Yours for only £4.25 - or $4 because of the policies of the Spectator. Fraser, you are a forceful editor, doughty defender of press freedom.

George Osborne interview: championing the ‘voice of the liberal mainstream’

After just eight weeks in the wilderness, George Osborne is back – and wants to put the pressure on Theresa May to use the phrase 'Northern Powerhouse' and the agenda that goes with it. Here’s an edited transcript of his BBC Today Programme interview this morning with Nick Robinson. NR: We want to talk about the Northern Powerhouse, but just to be clear then, you’re not tempted to follow your now ex-leader out of politics and spend some time writing your memoirs? No, I’m not. I don’t want to write my memoirs because I don’t know how the story ends and I want to hang around and find out. And there’s an enormous opportunity now to take part in the decisions that are going to affect Britain. We’ve taken a big decision which is to leave the European Union, there are now a whole host of new decisions about what our relationship is with Europe, how we run our economy, how Britain behaves in the world, and I want to be there in ultimately still the place where these decisions, the House of Commons, and be part of that decision-making process because I want to fight for the things that I care about: an international Britain, a Britain connected with its allies, a Britain taking its full share of responsibilities in the world.

Why Britain and China should stick together

Today I've been at the Shanghai Stock Exchange - the epicentre of the volatility that spooked global markets over the summer. I deliberately chose to come here because I wanted to make sure this simple message would be heard in both our country and China: through the ups and downs, Britain and China should stick together. Indeed the constant refrain of my five-day tour - with one of the broadest, most ambitious British delegations of recent years - is that China can count on Britain to be its best partner in the West. That means Beijing choosing London as its bridge to Western financial markets, which it has demonstrated this week with groundbreaking agreements that will deepen our financial ties. But it will also mean China bringing jobs and investment to other parts of our country, including the Northern Powerhouse.

Budget 2015: Full text of Osborne’s speech

Mr Deputy Speaker, Today, I report on a Britain that is growing, creating jobs and paying its way. We took difficult decisions in the teeth of opposition and it worked - Britain is walking tall again. Five years ago, our economy had suffered a collapse greater than almost any country. Today, I can confirm: in the last year we have grown faster than any other major advanced economy in the world. Five years ago, millions of people could not find work. Today, I can report: more people have jobs in Britain than ever before. Five years ago, living standards were set back years by the Great Recession. Today, the latest projections show that living standards will be higher than when we came to office. Five years ago, the deficit was out of control.

George Osborne’s letter from Australia

To Sydney for the first of three G20 meetings in Australia this year. It’s a long way to travel, but as the formidable Treasurer, Joe Hockey, reminded the jet-lagged finance ministers and central bank governors of the world: now you all know what Australian ministers have been putting up with all these years they’ve been travelling to your meetings. The government of Tony Abbott may be new to the international stage, but they’ve laid on an impressive show. We have a tight agenda, focused on clear and achievable outcomes; and the trappings are kept to a minimum. It all augurs well for the big leaders’ summit in Brisbane this November. I regret to say I’ve only been to Australia once before. That was on a flying visit 15 years ago with William Hague, then our Conservative party leader and now our imperturbable Foreign Secretary.

Lincoln’s legacy

Every so often American Presidents let people know that they are reading a book. When George W. Bush was seen clutching a copy of Andrew Roberts’s History of the English Speaking People, acres of newsprint appeared on this elegant apologia for neo-conservatism. Now his successor in the White House wants us to know that he has a well-thumbed copy of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals; and just in case you missed that, the publishers have helpfully emblazoned the front of the UK paperback edition with the headline ‘The Book that Inspired Barack Obama’.He could have done much worse. For Team of Rivals is one of the best biographical histories I have read in years. It is a powerful, personal and pacy account of the Lincoln Presidency told through the story of the four men who competed for the nomination at the Republican Party’s first ever Convention in 1860.

Speaking for the silent majority

I asked Henry Kissinger recently whether he had been to see the hit play Frost/Nixon. He told me that he made it a rule never to see plays that included characters he knew in real life, which I guess must mean that he hasn’t seen much post-war political theatre. He also said that he doubted whether any actor could capture the psychological complexity of Richard Nixon, the man whom he flew into the unknown with to talk to Mao Tse-tung and the man whom he had prayed side-by-side with on the night before the final resignation.Kissinger poses but does not answer the question in his memoirs: ‘What would have happened had the Establishment about which he [Nixon] was so ambivalent shown him some love?’ Rick Perlstein’s new book chronicles in piercing detail the story of what happened because the Establishment didn’t.

A stately progress

The bookshelves of any self-respecting library used to be weighed down with the monographs of the titans of 19th-century politics. The three volumes of John Morley’s masterly Life of Gladstone would jostle for space as each new volume of Moneypenny and Buckle’s six-volume Life of Benjamin Disrael was published. Yet one Victorian politician would have been conspicuous by his absence on the bookshelves. Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, was hardly a bit-player in mid-Victorian politics. He was involved in the great battles over reform that dominated the period, both as leader of his party for 22 years and leader of his country. Yet the very title of this first ever full biography — The Forgotten Prime Minister — says it all.

Waiting for Dave

Waiting for David Cameron’s speech, which is going to be a great end to a great conference. General buzz here amongst those who were at Labour’s Conference last week is that contrast has been striking: their Conference was all very hollow, lots of election speculation covering up the lack of no real substance; while ours has been full of new, exciting ideas. The Party has been really united and determined. We are up for the fight! On my brief there’s a story that is quite interesting – which the Mail and Guardian covered this morning. It concerns Labour’s misleading use of Treasury figures to attack our tax proposals. Yesterday lunchtime I wrote to the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury as follows: On 30th April 2007, the then Economic Secretary, Ed Balls MP told the House of Commons, "Information is not held on overseas income and gains that do not give rise to a tax liability in the UK.

All politics is local

I’ve just been speaking to over hundred business people who have come up to Blackpool for our Corporate Day. I spoke alongside Miles Templeman, Director General of the Institute of Directors. Richard Lambert of the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce, and Federation of Small Business were also there in force. The event was just part of an action packed day of policy discussions and seminars organised by our business relations operation. We’ve done an enormous amount of work over the year, engaging with small and large businesses, up and down the country, and across every sector. We had record attendance, and the event was oversubscribed. My morning was a blur of newspaper and television interviews. I’ve just come off the phone to Alan, a reporter from my local paper, the Knutsford Guardian.

George Osborne’s conference diary | 2 October 2007

George Osborne’s conference diary

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor and Tory election co-ordinator, will be contributing to Coffee House throughout conference. Here is his first entry: The first full day of conference. Morning meeting at 8am with David and the team, setting out exactly what we'll do today. Much as I'd like to share the details, I cannot, even with you, dear Coffee House reader. Then onto Sky's Adam Boulton programme in the studio overlooking the conference. Snippet in case you missed it: Adam: "Are you going to introduce out of hours supermarket parking charges?" Me: "No." Who says politicians can't give a straight answer? Watched William Hague's barnstorming speech on TV from my hotel room, while working on my own speech tomorrow.

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