George osborne

One of the very good things about Lord Ashcroft is that he is happy to commission large-scale opinion polls. Sometimes these are mischievous. Take today’s example, for instance. It is always useful to be reminded that most members of the public can only recognise a handful of politicians. One would expect David Cameron and Boris Johnson to be at the top of the public recognition table. They are the only politicians in Britain recognised – and correctly identified – by more than 90% of those surveyed. 89% of respondents claim to recognise Ed Miliband but only 77% can actually identify him (some think he’s actually his brother which, given David

All departments have now reached agreement with the Treasury in the spending review. Vince Cable’s Business Department, which was not expected to settle until the last possible moment, settled earlier this evening bringing the round to a conclusion. Finishing things off with two and a half days to spare is an achievement for George Osborne. It also demonstrates the durability of the coalition. Many expected that this spending round would put the coalition under unique stress. Tory spending ministers were irritated by having to make ever deeper cuts because the Liberal Democrats would not accept further welfare reductions. While Vince Cable was making clear that he wouldn’t accept cuts to

The next few days in Whitehall are going to be dominated by the remaining bits of the spending review. The Treasury remains confident that it will wrap everything up with relative ease, BIS seems to be the only department still causing genuine concern. But given that Cable is the left tent peg of this coalition that is a major problem. But there are, I understand, going to have to be some cuts made that the coalition would rather have avoided. This is, in large part, due to the fact that because of Nick Clegg’s veto Osborne got £6 billion less out of welfare than he wanted. I understand that Osborne

The latest figures for NewBuy, one of George Osborne’s prop-up-the-housing-market schemes, have been published. Mercifully, perhaps, they continue to be underwhelming. To recap: inspired by the American success story of providing mortgages to those that can’t afford them, the scheme provides a guarantee backed by the government and house-builders (who commit 5.5 and 3.5 per cent of the purchase price of a property, respectively) to lenders. Buyers put in a deposit of 5-10 per cent, but the extra money means they can get a higher loan-to-value mortgage than they could otherwise afford. Houses have to be newly built and costing £500,000 or less. It has to be the buyer’s main

It is a badly kept secret that David Dimbleby was in the Bullingdon Club and he has finally spoken about it, telling the Radio Times that he ‘loved being elected’ to the notorious Oxford dining society and that he is ‘very proud of the uniform’ that he still fits into. Refreshing honesty, especially after years of hearing politicians profess their deep shame at their involvement. Dimbleby goes on: ‘We never did these disgusting disgraceful things that Boris did. We never broke windows or got wildly drunk. It was a completely different organisation from what it became when Boris Johnson, David Cameron, and George Osborne joined, who seemed to be ashamed of it,

Is there anyone left who thinks the Government’s Help to Buy scheme is a good idea? This week’s Spectator splashes on the risks of this property bubble wheeze. Merryn Somerset Webb warns that the scheme, which underwrites mortgages, will lead to rising house prices. She argues that ‘if anyone other than the government manipulated a market to this extent, it would be illegal’: The latest is the one that worries even the king of stimulus himself, Sir Mervyn King. It’s called Help To Buy, Osborne’s latest market-distorting scheme that effectively forces the already overcommitted taxpayer to underwrite £12 billion of mortgage lending to people who haven’t got an adequate deposit