George osborne

Sunday

Toby Young

You’re an editor now George Osborne… it’s time you made some enemies

Dear George Osborne, I thought it worth passing along some advice about your new job. I’ve never edited a news-paper, but I’ve been in the business for 32 years and I’ve seen a fair few come and go. I’ve also worked for the Evening Standard in various capacities. Indeed, my first job in journalism was doing shift work on Londoner’s Diary. That’s not a bad place to start on Fleet Street (your predecessor did) and you could do worse than sit at the desk for a few weeks. Liz Smith, the veteran American newspaper columnist, describes gossip as ‘news wearing a red dress and running ahead of the pack’ and

Thursday

Toby Young

It’s time you made some enemies, George

Dear George Osborne, I thought it worth passing along some advice about your new job. I’ve never edited a news-paper, but I’ve been in the business for 32 years and I’ve seen a fair few come and go. I’ve also worked for the Evening Standard in various capacities. Indeed, my first job in journalism was doing shift work on Londoner’s Diary. That’s not a bad place to start on Fleet Street (your predecessor did) and you could do worse than sit at the desk for a few weeks. Liz Smith, the veteran American newspaper columnist, describes gossip as ‘news wearing a red dress and running ahead of the pack’ and

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 4 May 2017

Home Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, told Theresa May after dinner with her on 26 April, ‘I’m leaving Downing Street ten times more sceptical than I was before,’ according to an account in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. At the dinner, also attended by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, Mrs May was said to have declared that Britain was not legally obliged to pay the EU ‘a penny’; Mr Juncker said ‘the EU is not a golf club’ with a subscription that could be cancelled at any time. ‘Let us make Brexit a success,’ May is said to have remarked, to which

Wednesday

James Forsyth

The Tory party should not forget George Osborne’s role in its revival

George Osborne’s decision to stand down as an MP is a sign of how impregnable Theresa May’s position is perceived to be. Osborne is the most politically formidable of the Tory sceptics of May’s Brexit plan, and his decision to quit the Commons suggests that he doesn’t think she’ll come unstuck in the next parliament. Of course, Osborne has others things to occupy himself with: the editorship of the Evening Standard and his lucrative work for Black Rock. But one suspects that he’d have been prepared to brazen out the criticism over his multiple jobs if he thought there would be a political sea change in his wing of the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

George Osborne quits as an MP – and gives the story to his own paper

George Osborne has just delivered his first Evening Standard scoop. The London free-sheet reports that the MP for Tatton is quitting as an MP — but will carry on ‘fighting for that Britain’ he ‘loves’ as the editor of the Evening Standard. In a letter to Conservatives in his constituency, Osborne said he would continue to stay active in political debates on issues he is passionate about. With May set to increase her majority in the snap election, Osborne may feel there is little opportunity for him in the next Parliament. While the former chancellor said he was thrilled to be taking charge of the Standard, he refused to rule out

Thursday

Steerpike

George Osborne finds there’s no rest for the wicked

With George Osborne set to start his new part-time job as editor of the Evening Standard next month, the former chancellor could be forgiven for taking things easy for now and just focussing on his two other big jobs — as an advisor for Black Rock and the MP for Tatton. However, given that this is George – ‘six jobs’ – Osborne, it was never going to be the case. The latest register of interests shows that Osborne has been busying himself of late giving speeches in Britain, Europe and the Middle East. And how much money did he earn in the process? A cool £155,136 for just 11 and a half

Wednesday

Peter Jones

Osborne and the Athenians

As a result of George Osborne taking up five jobs on top of his role as MP for Tatton, an ethics watchdog wants to know what the public thinks about MPs having other jobs. One problem is that people’s low opinion of MPs makes balanced judgment difficult. The same was true in the ancient world. There were no ‘parties’ with ‘policies’ in democratic Athens, only ‘speakers’ (the equivalent of our ‘politicians’) at the weekly Assemblies, often holding some office, and attempting to persuade the listening citizens to vote for their solution to whatever problem the Assembly was facing. Comic poets obviously laid into them, characterising them all as ‘robbers’ and

Saturday

Rod Liddle

Here’s what Sarah Sands should do with the Today programme

I wonder what Sarah Sands will do to Radio 4’s Today programme? She is the first editor in more than 30 years to come from outside the BBC, having previously run Evgeny Lebedev’s London Evening Standard. One assumes, then, that the BBC feels that the old war horse needs a bit of shaking up, and perhaps a slight tilting on the political rudder. Sands is, almost uniquely for the boss class of the BBC, Conservative inclined, even if she was a Remainer and is of a somewhat liberal disposition. I was rather cheered by her appointment — and said so in print — as I think she is an excellent

Saturday

Sarah Sands

George Osborne’s Evening Standard job is good news for London

George Osborne has been a good friend to London. He sees the point of infrastructure and I hope he’ll fight hard for Crossrail 2, which has been shunted into the sidings by this government. London business rates are a huge issue, close to Osborne’s heart. He’s a supporter of the arts, with a streak of romanticism missing in David Cameron and Theresa May. It’s good news for Sir Simon Rattle’s concert hall, and Thomas Heatherwick’s Garden Bridge. The mayor Sadiq Khan, who is more than a match for Osborne as a political strategist, will understand what they can jointly achieve as champions of an open, liberal city. The Prime Minister

Thursday

Sarah Sands

Diary – 23 March 2017

So I am feeling a bit better about my lack of radio experience. These are exciting times for free movement of labour and with Westminster under the control of Tory and Labour cabals, lovely jobs outside Parliament are tempting. George Osborne is no more qualified to edit the London Evening Standard than Tristram Hunt to run the V&A, but now art and antiquities scholars have dried their tears, that is turning out splendidly. The late Nick Tomalin pointed out that success in journalism requires only ‘ratlike cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability’. The trade is temperament as much as technical skill and Osborne has a journalistic love

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 23 March 2017

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said that on 29 March she would send a letter to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, triggering the process of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. A summit of EU leaders was convened for 29 April, with the aim of briefing its negotiator, Michel Barnier. Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, elicited the support of the Scottish Parliament for her policy of seeking a second referendum on Scottish independence ‘within a short time of’ Brexit. Mrs May had dismissed her request, saying: ‘Now is not the time.’ Ms Sturgeon said an

Nick Hilton Nick Hilton

The Spectator Podcast: Aid isn’t working

On this week’s podcast, we consider how refugees could be better aided, whether David Cameron might be envious of George Osborne’s ‘retirement’, and why getting trolled can be good for your career. First, as the government ends the Dubs amendment scheme, we ask whether there are better solutions to the refugee crisis. Paul Collier writes this week’s cover piece, arguing against camps and in favour of getting refugees into jobs, as soon as humanely possible. Paul joins the podcast this week, along with Kevin Watkins CEO of Save the Children. As Paul writes in the magazine: “Refugees nowadays do not have the luxury of a short-term solution. The problems they are fleeing are likely to

Stephen Robinson

Cameron adrift

It can be cruel, the way politics plays out. At the very moment George Osborne was telling the bemused staff of the London Evening Standard last week that his working life in politics had obscured a passionate desire to become a newspaper editor, a familiar figure could be seen in the fresh meat department of the Whole Foods supermarket almost directly underneath the paper’s Kensington newsroom. That man was David Cameron, and inevitably someone with journalistic instincts spotted him, snapped him on her phone, and tweeted it. Stephen Robinson and James Forsyth discuss Cameron and Osborne’s diverging retirement plans: We congratulate ourselves on the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ nature of

Tuesday

Sarah Sands

In defence of George Osborne (by the Evening Standard’s departing editor)

So I am feeling a bit better about my lack of radio experience. These are exciting times for free movement of labour and with Westminster under the control of Tory and Labour cabals, lovely jobs outside Parliament are tempting. George Osborne is no more qualified to edit the Evening Standard than Tristram Hunt to run the V&A, but now art and antiquities scholars have dried their tears, that is turning out splendidly. The late Nick Tomalin pointed out that success in journalism requires only ‘ratlike cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability’. The trade is temperament as much as technical skill and Osborne has a journalistic love of

Monday

Steerpike

George Osborne finds old habits die hard

George Osborne became the subject of much mockery over the weekend after Rohan Silva let slip that the former chancellor had only decided to apply to be editor of the Evening Standard editor after friends had come to him for help with their own applications. While Mr S has since advised readers not to approach the MP for Tatton for career advice (unless one is sure Osborne would not be interested in the job for himself), it may be best to avoid going to Osborne for help full stop. Mr S couldn’t help but recall an interview the Tory politician gave to the Mail on Sunday, in which he revealed how he met his

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Why Tony Blair is still wrong about Brexit

Why did 17.4m people vote for Brexit? A long list of reasons have been put forward but Tony Blair thinks he has the definitive answer: ‘authoritarian populism’. The Sun is not impressed; the paper says that it’s a sorry spectacle to see former Prime Ministers ‘slinging insults’ at voters having been ‘defeated and rejected by the people they used to govern’. What’s more, Blair’s attempt to explain away the referendum shows he is missing the point. After all, the paper argues, Blair seems rather less keen to ‘acknowledge the effects of the uncontrolled immigration he forced on British communities’ in determining the outcome of the referendum. But Blair isn’t alone. Sir

Saturday

Steerpike

Listen: Osborne applied for Standard job… after friends asked for help with their applications

Lesson No.1: Never ask George – ‘six jobs’ – Osborne for career advice. Or at least, never ask the former chancellor for career advice if you think it’s a job he could be tempted by. On the Today programme this morning, Rohan Silva — the former No 10 SpAd — took to the airwaves to try and defend his one-time boss’s decision to take on the role of Evening Standard editor while also continuing as the MP for Tatton and as a £650k per annum advisor to BlackRock. Alas, despite his best efforts, Mr S suspects that Silva may have actually made the situation worse. Explaining why Osborne had applied, Silva said the

Friday

Steerpike

Was George Osborne sloppy second to City AM editor?

Following the announcement that George Osborne is the new editor of the Evening Standard, the BBC’s media editor Amol Rajan was quick to brand the appointment ‘a remarkable move that will dazzle the worlds of politics and media’. But — as dazzling as it may or may not be — did Evgeny Lebedev only turn to George Osborne after the editor of London’s rival free sheet rebuffed his advances? Word reaches Steerpike that it was City AM‘s Christian May who was first approached — but decided to stay put in his current role rather than jump ship. While May has not responded to Mr S’s request for comment — should Osborne need

Steerpike Steerpike

Revealed: George Osborne’s speech to Evening Standard staff – I know how to run a country, not a newspaper

Although George Osborne has many questions to answer regarding how he can take on the role of editor of the Evening Standard while remaining the MP for Tatton and a £650k per annum advisor to BlackRock, the former chancellor shied away from addressing any of the numerous conflicts of interest when he addressed staff in the Standard newsroom this afternoon. Mr S’s mole reports that the MP for Tatton — whose last editorship was on Oxford University’s Isis Magazine — received a lukewarm reception from the paper’s staff as he gave a short speech to the shocked hacks. Osborne complained that he had been ‘keeping it secret for weeks’ and went on to

Ross Clark Ross Clark

George Osborne is the archetypal part-time MP

For once, Jeremy Corbyn was spot-on. Learning of the news that George Osborne is to be made editor of the Evening Standard he didn’t bleat about Tory domination of the press, but tweeted ‘It’s taking multi-tasking to an extreme level – what a joke’. What is wrong about Osborne’s new job is not that it confirms that the Evening Standard is a Conservative-supporting newspaper. That is there for all to see, but why does it matter when there is absolutely nothing to stop a Labour-supporting entrepreneur, or anyone else, setting up a rival London newspaper? What ought to concern all taxpayers is that we are already paying the former chancellor