George Osborne

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George[1] Osborne (born 23rd May 1971), is a former British politician and a member of the Tory party. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 12 May 2010 when appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron. These two were old friends; both had been members of the notoriously degenerate Bullingdon Club at Oxford University. As a result, although Osborne was arguably Britain's worst-ever Chancellor, there was never any real chance that Cameron would sack him. In the end, following Cameron’s resignation, Osborne was immediately dismissed by the new Prime Minister, Theresa May, on 13th July 2016.

Osborne is widely considered to have been an unmitigated disaster as Chancellor and few people were surprised when May sacked him as soon as she became PM. The mark of his tenure was an unnecessary emphasis on austerity which harmed the economy and increased poverty and homelessness. Probably the most striking example of Osborne's incompetence was the inexcusable way he wrecked women's pensions. Without due notice or prior communication, Osborne hiked the pension age of working women from 60 to 63, between 2010 and 2016. This left millions of women born in the 1950s considerably worse off after a lifetime of work. It has been estimated that the women lost more than £30,000 on average. In 2024, the Parliamentary Ombudsman finally recognised (with a general election imminent) that the ladies deserve compensation. As of March 2024, the final outcome remains to be seen but it is known that the amount of compensation, if it is ever paid, will be a fraction of the losses incurred.

Until 2010, Osborne had served as Shadow Chancellor, i.e. the Opposition speaker on financial matters.

From 2001 to 2017, Osborne was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton. In September 2016, he stated that he would not leave Parliament, although that same month new constituency boundary proposals were unveiled that saw his seat abolished.

Osborne formed a new think tank to promote the "Northern powerhouse" project that he pursued as Chancellor, which proposed economic development of the north of England and is held to have failed miserably, especially since Johnson and Gove became involved and called it "levelling up".

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ He was actually christened Gideon Oliver, but later adopted the name George.