George Osborne had a perfect target, all sorts of grievances to nurse, and enough truth for a perfect strike. Then a car crash interview by a Labour MP messed it all up.
The former Chancellor’s ambitions to be the next Prime Minister hit the wall on 23 June, the day UK voters rejected his advice and chose to leave the European Union. Within weeks, the actual next PM (Theresa May) fired him, and now he’s no longer even an MP – although that was by choice. Instead, as editor of the Evening Standard, he can ruminate about Ms. May’s faults, as well as those of the British Leavers. The latter is particularly important as his new perch is based on London (a Remain-heavy city). This allows him to transform himself into a 21st-Century splicing of V and Prothero. Indeed, in his paper’s first editorial, he couldn’t resist insisting Brexit would be “an historic mistake,” before slanging May’s campaign.
Of course, anger and bile will only get one so far, especially given how obvious Osborne personal animus for May is (they were rivals within David Cameron’s cabinet for years). What allows Osborne more room to maneuver is that – our disagreement on Brexit aside – his criticism of May’s campaign hit the mark:
There’s nothing wrong with repeating election campaign slogans; the problem comes when the election campaign amounts to no more than a slogan. If you ask for a blank cheque, don’t be surprised if later it bounces.
Remind me to credit the Great Modernizer for that last line, because I guarantee you it won’t be the last time you read it.
So what does this mean for the Conservative campaign? Well, thanks to Diane Abbott, practically nothing.
The PM’s unlikely savior went on LBC to discuss Labour’s plans…and promptly announced that her party would hire 10,000 new officers at a rate of about $40 a year. When pressed about it, she revised the figure…to about $10,000.
Naturally, the Telegraph has a lot of fun with this, but at least one “Labour insider” echoed the right’s near-universal criticism of the interview to tell Politics Home Editor Kevin Schofield:
Labour insider on Diane Abbott “If your aim was to ensure Jeremy didn’t become Prime Minister, you couldn’t do a better job than that.”
Ouch.
Thirty-seven days to E-Day…