Bob Geldof reveals George Osborne’s Band Aid PR stunt

Last night’s GQ awards were a tame affair. Russell Brand wasn’t on hand to make Nazi jokes at the expense of a sponsor and the magazine refrained from awarding a philanthropy award to Tony Blair for a second year in a row. They did, however, award a gong to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for being the ‘politician of the year’.

Sir Bob Geldof presented George Osborne with the award, but not before he had described Osborne as having the reputation for being the ‘most machiavellian politician’.

The musician and philanthropist then proceeded to tell an anecdote about Osborne’s charitable gesture last year when he returned VAT on sales of the Band Aid 30 Ebola single to the charity. The deal clincher? Some good PR:

‘It was Saturday morning and George called me and said I suppose you’ll be looking for your VAT back and I said yeah, and he said “damn, okay but will you please go outside because I saw the press and I’m watching telly, so will you go outside and tell them that I’ve allowed it back to you right now because I’m watching right now.”