Osborne: Flailing not failing

Watching George Osborne yesterday trying to defend himself against a barrage of questions from Sky News political editor Adam Boulton made for uncomfortable viewing. It was clear to everyone, including probably Osborne himself, that he made an unwise move in ‘outing’ the government’s allegedly secret tax rises, increases which the Treasury had published for all who wished to see in last year’s budget. Not only did this recklessness makes Osborne look bad and call in to doubt his credibility to effectively be the country’s second in command, but it also reflects badly on David Cameron and the Conservatives.

The whole sorry incident reminds me of the Sarah Palin affair, which the Democrats used so successfully to their advantage in the 2008 US presidential campaign. Just when the Republicans thought they’d trumped their opponents by unveiling a female vice-presidential running mate, the Democrats ran a campaign asking the public whether they’d trust Palin, an inexperienced governor from Alaska, to run the country should something happen to old man McCain. This is the Osborne situation in a nutshell.

Writing in the Independent on Sunday (20 September), John Rentoul summed up the Conservatives’ predicament without Cameron, which he concluded would be like, well, the Conservatives of the past 12 years, a rudderless ship with no one competent enough to steer the helm. The Tories have no plausible leaders-in-waiting and are a one man party, he concluded. Labour should take heed of Rentoul’s assessment, learn from the Democrats experience, exploit Cameron’s and Osborne’s combined inexperience and run with it.

That said, Osborne is flailing not failing. Up until last week, Osborne has been a reliable sideman to the ever budding Cameron. The whole tax debacle was an error in judgment but not a fatal blow to Osborne’s long-term prospects. What the Chancellor-in-waiting needs to do is retreat for a week, let the storm blow over and come back with solutions, not create problems, at the Conservatives’ conference in a fortnight’s time.