George Osborne

Politician

• Born: May 23, 1971
• Place of Birth: London, England

Education: Magdalen College, Oxford

Significance: George Osborne is a British Conservative politician who served as a member of Parliament for Tatton from 2001 to 2017, the chancellor of the exchequer from 2010 to 2016, and the first secretary of state from 2015 to 2016. Following his political career, he became a newspaper editor.

Background

George Osborne was born Gideon Oliver Osborne on May 23, 1971, in London, England. The eldest of four children, his father was Sir Peter Osborne, the seventeenth baronet of Ballintaylor, who founded the wallpapering firm Osborne & Little. Osborne grew up in the Notting Hill section of London and attended St. Paul’s School. When he was thirteen, he changed his given name to George. His full name became George Gideon Oliver Osborne.

Osborne attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied history and was an editor of the university magazine, Isis. After graduating college, he initially pursued a journalism career. When that did not work out, he turned to politics.

Political Career

Osborne began his political career working as a researcher in the Conservative Party’s headquarters in 1994. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Conservative Party, and that same year he was appointed the special adviser in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. He held various positions in the Conservative Party over the next few years. In 1997, he worked on then–prime minister John Major’s campaign. After the Conservatives lost the election, Major resigned as party leader and William Hague replaced him as leader of the Conservative Party. That same year, Osborne became Hague’s political secretary.

In 2001, Osborne entered Parliament as the representative for Tatton, becoming the youngest Conservative member in the House of Commons. Also entering Parliament in 2001 was David Cameron, a fellow member of the Conservative Party. Osborne and Cameron became friends and allies, and they both rose rapidly through the party. During his first term as an MP, Osborne was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and the Transport Committee. He briefly served as the opposition whip in 2003. In September 2004, Osborne was appointed to the shadow cabinet as the shadow chief secretary to the treasury, a post he held until May 2005.

During Osborne’s first years in Parliament, the Conservative Party then went through a tumultuous period in which subsequent leaders attempted to restore the public’s confidence and regain the government. Following the party’s defeat in the 2005 general election, party leader Michael Howard resigned. Osborne, who had been favored by Howard as his successor, briefly considered running for party leader. Instead, he gave his support to Cameron and ran his successful campaign for leader. Cameron and Osborne then partnered and attempted to modernize the Conservative Party and make it more responsive to voters’ concerns. Moving away from the right, they espoused more moderate stances on issues related to tax cuts and public spending in an effort to recast the image of the Conservative Party and appeal to a broader segment of the population.

Osborne was reelected to Parliament in 2005. He again was appointed to the shadow cabinet, serving as the shadow chancellor to the exchequer from May 2005 to May 2010. He shadowed Gordon Brown until June 2007 and Alistair Darling until 2010.

In the 2010 election, Osborne was elected to a third term. For the first time since 1992, the Conservatives won a majority in England, but they failed to gain a majority in Scotland and Wales. Osborne served on the Conservative’s negotiating team that helped to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, and Cameron became the prime minister. Cameron appointed Osborne the chancellor of the exchequer. As chancellor, Osborne’s primary responsibilities were setting monetary and fiscal policies, including creating the budget, raising revenue, and controlling public spending.

Osborne implemented many austerity measures in an attempt to help the United Kingdom recover from the 2008 recession. In his first budget speech, in June 2010, he announced plans to reduce public spending, freeze public sector wages, raise the capital gains tax, implement a bank levy, and decrease the corporation tax. In October 2010, he announced a five-year economic plan that included additional cuts in public spending and public sector jobs, increased taxes, established a permanent bank levy, and increased the pension age earlier than expected. These measures affected a wide range of public services, including government agencies such as policing, community groups, foreign ministry, and defense. Despite these measures, by the end of 2010 the economy had shrunk by 0.5 percent and inflation had increased. Critics, particularly members of the Labour Party, faulted Osborne’s strategies and as the economy failed to rebound as expected over the next years called for Osborne to change course.

Osborne continued to make cuts and introduce austerity measures, saying long-term economic measures were necessary rather than those that would produce immediate results. By 2013, the economy had begun to recover. In 2015, Osborne was reelected to Parliament and the Conservatives won the general elections. He was again appointed chancellor of the exchequer and named the first secretary of state.

However, after citizens voted in a referendum for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in June 2016 and Cameron resigned shortly after as a result, Osborne also stepped down from his posts as chancellor of the exchequer and first secretary of state in July. Having largely been against holding the referendum, he had been a large part of the campaign encouraging people to vote to remain in the European Union, stressing the financial consquences of separation, but would later say in interviews that he and the rest of the administration in favor of remaining had not started making the benefits of membership in the European Union clear early enough; according to some reports, he had been ousted from the government of new prime minister Theresa May.

Early the following year, after being named the new editor of the Evening Standard, he announced that he was leaving his position as an MP. He served as editor from 2017 to 2020, when he was replaced. He remained with the paper as editor-in-chief, writing some columns about politics and other national issues. The print edition was in serious financial trouble at that time. Before the COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020, the Evening Standard's circulation was about 800,000 daily copies in London, where many of its readers perused the pages while using public transportation. Because many businesses closed their doors, the paper's sales were about 423,000 copies a day in April 2020.

In 2021, he became chair of the British Museum. During his tenure, an investigation prompted by tips revealed the theft and Ebay sale of an estimated two thousand uncataloged artifacts from the museum. A curator suspected of stealing the objects was fired, and legal proceedings were launched.

Osborne was also chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a not-for-profit economic development organization. He was an adviser for BlackRock, an investment fund, and chair of an advisory panel with Exor since 2019.

Impact

While George Osborne’s harsh austerity measures made him unpopular among some Britons, by early 2015 it appeared his measures had produced positive results and were leading to economic stability. Britain’s borrowing was reduced, unemployment had declined, and the economy showed signs of growth. These successes helped the Conservative Party win the 2015 election and improved Osborne’s stature, leading some political analysts to speculate he had ambitions for higher office. His 2016 budget introduced a tax on sugary drinks, several tax cuts, and a 30 percent budget decrease for the National Health Service. In 2016, he received the Companion of Honour from Queen Elizabeth II.

Personal Life

Osborne is married to the writer Frances Osborne. They have two children, Luke and Liberty.

Bibliography

Beckett, Andy. “The Real George Osborne.” The Guardian, 28 Nov. 2011, www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/nov/28/real-george-osborne. Accessed 6 May 2016.

Chan, Szu Ping. “Budget 2016: Can Osborne Keep His Economic Plan on Course?” Telegraph, 13 Mar. 2016, www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/11/budget-2016-can-osborne-keep-his-economic-plan-on-course/. Accessed 6 May 2016.

"George Osborne." The Standard, 2024, www.standard.co.uk/author/george-osborne. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

"George Osborne to Step Down as Evening Standard Editor." BBC, 12 June 2020, www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53025480. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

Hughes, Laura. "George Osborne to Stand Down as MP as He Leaves Westminster 'For Now,'" The Telegraph, 19 Apr. 2017, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/19/george-osborne-announces-will-stand-mp/. Accessed 2 Nov. 2018.

Khomami, Nadia. "British Museum Thefts Were 'Inside Job', Says George Osborne." The Guardian, 18 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/oct/18/british-museum-thefts-were-an-inside-job-says-george-osborne. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

"Mr George Osborne CH (Chair)." British Museum, 2024, www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/governance/trustee-mr-george-osborne-ch. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

Osborne, George. “A Conversation with George Osborne.” Interview by Stephen J. Friedman. Council on Foreign Relations, 7 Dec. 2015, www.cfr.org/event/conversation-george-osborne. Accessed 6 May 2016.

Parker, George. “The Reinvention of George Osborne.” Financial Times, 6 Mar. 2015, www.ft.com/content/d1d65690-c2ae-11e4-a59c-00144feab7de. Accessed 6 May 2016.

“Profile: Chancellor George Osborne.” BBC News, 29 Nov. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/10343316. Accessed 6 May 2016.

“The Rt. Hon George Osborne MP.” Gov.uk, www.gov.uk/government/people/george-osborne. Accessed 2 Nov. 2018.