Last night lobby hacks gathered with their favourite SpAds in tow for the Westminster correspondents’ dinner. This year’s guest of honour was George Osborne, who proceeded to win over the crowd with a jibe-filled speech.
Osborne — who has previously accused the BBC of harbouring ‘imperial ambitions’ — did manage to find time to include a serious message alongside his many parliamentary put-downs. He urged Auntie to work alongside local news rather than against. However, it was his jibes against both his colleagues and himself that received the biggest laughs from the well-hydrated audience.
Referring to his esteemed guests, Osborne said that never had there been so many big egos in one room since John Bercow dined out alone. He then moved on to making fun of himself recalling the time he had found himself stranded with the lobby in Paris’s red light district as a young Tory aide, before moving on to his most recent omnishambles budget.
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