Cui Bono? George Osborne’s video shame

Poor, dear, awkward George Osborne. Just when he seems to be doing things right — the economy, for instance — he gets something wrong. Very wrong. In The Spectator this week, James Forsyth reveals that, at Matthew Freud’s now notorious 50th birthday bash, when Bono and Bob Geldof sang a duet, Osborne insisted on whipping out his mobile telephone and filming the performance.

Just what the Chancellor was doing there is one question. But if this were a 15- year-old and not, er, the Chancellor, his Bono-worship might be endearing. Perhaps the proper response is one of pity. But politicos are not a forgiving bunch. As James puts it, Osborne’s “act of gaucheness has been the subject of much mockery in the Cameron circle”

PS: Mr Steerpike wonders what exactly so impressed the Chancellor about Bono and Bob. It’s not as if either man is celebrated for his contributions to the Treasury.