Should Osborne remain Shadow Chancellor?

There’s a great deal of rumbling on the Westminster grapevine about George Osborne’s position in the Tory party.  The FT set the ball a-rolling yesterday, with an article on the “dinner table” ire aimed at the Shadow Chancellor.  It contained a juicy quote from a Tory MP, claiming that Osborne “was a good chancellor for the good times – now he’s lost credibility”, as well as an outline of a “reshuffle scenario” whereby William Hague is moved to the Shadow Chancellorship, with Osborne heading to an “enhanced party chairman role”.  That’s been followed up by posts across the political blogosphere, as well as an article by Iain Martin in today’s Telegraph calling for Osborne to be moved by “early next year”.  The latest, courtesy of today’s Standard, is that Osborne is cutting back on his job as “unoffical party chairman” to concentrate on his principal role.

Now, all the speculation may be for nought.