Brian Rushton Master of all he surveys

Brian Rushton,

Boris, bested

DURING the last parliament George Osborne took to slipping sardonic jokes about the opposition Labour Party into his annual budget statements. On July 8th, however, in his first such speech since the election, the chancellor of the exchequer took aim at his own side. Announcing that he would fund the restoration of a command centre used by the Royal Air Force during the second world war, he talked of “the days when aeroplanes flew freely over the skies of west London”—a dig at Boris Johnson, the local Conservative MP and the city’s mayor, who opposes the expansion of Heathrow airport.

His willingness to tease his main rival for the leadership of the party betokened Mr Osborne’s new swagger. Tory MPs roared with approval as he set out his economic programme. Mr Johnson grinned uncomfortably. Even Iain Duncan Smith, the welfare secretary, who has sparred with the chancellor, bellowed “fantastic”, pumping his fists in giddy delight.

It was not always thus. Three years ago Mr Osborne was the face of a wave of public spending cuts deemed not just harsh but also ineffective. Crowds at the...Continue reading

via Brian Rushton, Master of all he surveys