George Osborne: Corbyn is not the cause of Labour’s problems

George Osborne was interviewed by Kath Viner, editor of The Guardian, this afternoon and offered some interesting thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn. The Tories have generally kept schtum about the rise of the new Labour leader, focusing instead on the message that he is a danger to Britain’s national/economic security. Echoing the thoughts of Labour’s Jon Cruddas, the Chancellor said Corbynmania is not about the man himself:

‘I don’t think it’s actually about personalities in this sense which is, you know, Jeremy Corbyn is not the cause of the Labour party’s problems, he is a symptom. He was elected by the great majority of Labour members — not just the new people who joined, not just the trade unionists but the members their constituency Labour parties. That party has decided to abandon the centre ground, head off to the fringes.’

‘He came to speak to a fringe meeting here yesterday — metaphorically he’s going to be at a fringe meeting for the next five years as far as I can see — and actually we therefore now have a huge responsibility to represent working people, to hold the centre ground of British politics and to define that centre ground around fiscal responsibility, progressive public service reform, a welfare system that supports people who want to work.