Time to say goodbye to George Osborne

Former Chancellor George Osborne announced he would not seek re-election in the 2017 General Election.

He had been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001 at which time he became the youngest Member of the House of Commons.

In 2010 he became Chancellor of the Exchequer and we’ve listed together some of the more memorable moments.

George’s Highlights?

• •The unprecedented Bromance between Osborne and David Cameron
• Osborne was seen as the natural heir to David Cameron when he announced he would not stand for a third term. This all went up in smoke after the EU referendum campaign, not helped by his threat of an emergency Brexit Budget
• Osborne did not even stand in the 2016 Conservative Leadership race and was sacked by Theresa May in favour of Phillip Hammond when she took over
• Never quite shaking off the Baronecy title and true first name of Gideon
• “Pasty-gate” – the shambles that was the Budget 2012 ripped to bits after only a few days Osborne was forced to do a U-turn after it emerged you would not pay VAT if you let your pasty cool down in the shop
• Another U-turn, this time for cuts to tax credits in 2015
• Being booed at the London 2012 Parlympic Games as he was announced to the crowd at a medal giving ceremony
• Losing his cat, Freya several times before she was allegedly banished to Kent for bullying Larry at No.10
• His combative clashes with then Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls – he did a good job as stand in at PMQs (not quite as good as witty William Hague though)
• He will become synonymous with austerity Britain with sweeping cuts to government departments as part of his ‘fixing the roof while the sun shines.’
• Taking high-visibility jacket and hard hat wearing to the extreme it seemed every other day George was on a building site Speaking of which, we were introduced to terms such as ‘The Northern Powerhouse’ and ‘The Midlands Engine’ – will they survive the May era?
• During the EU referendum campaign Osborne was ridiculed for his doomsday predictions if the UK voted to leave. Things like, “A vote to leave would tip our economy into a year-long recession with at least 500,000 UK jobs lost” Must have missed that.
• Being appointed Editor of the Evening Standard and thinking he could continue as an MP. Conflict of interest much?