Is it time to ban George Osborne?

George Osborne has taken a break from his myriad jobs to give his thoughts on health policy. Orange juice should be taxed, and smoking banned, according to the ex-Chancellor. Doing so had been ‘too controversial’ while he was in government; those ‘anti-nanny state Conservatives’ who oppose it are ‘not worth listening to.

Leaving aside the lack of evidence about whether sugar taxes reduce calorie intake, and whether Conservative governments should impose such draconian measures, Osborne’s intervention is oddly timed. Negotiations with Greece on the Elgin Marbles’ future are ongoing; one would have thought the chairman of the British Museum has better things to be doing than opine on orange juice.

But this intervention shouldn’t surprise followers of the former MP for Tatton’s post-parliamentary career. Since he left the Commons, Osborne has not only shown an alacrity for picking up plum roles at think tanks, universities, and hedge funds, but a passion for producing inconvenient headlines for his ministerial successors.