IT began with a touch of schadenfreude.
The Chancellor’s big speech was about to begin and who should be on stage to introduce him but Andrea Jenkyns. Who? Admittedly not the biggest or indeed the smallest household name but she is the Tory who famously ousted Ed Balls from his Yorkshire seat at the election.
George joked: “If I’d have told you 12 months ago the MP for Morley and Outwood was going to come onto this stage and speak in our economy debate, you’d have called for security.”
Of course, there was another coup against Labour with the Chancellor having persuaded Lord Adonis, the former Labour Transport Secretary, to head the Tories’ new commission on infrastructure. Now while Conservative chiefs have insisted this should not be regarded as a poke in the eye for Jezza, no doubt they are enjoying the large black ring appearing around the Labour leader’s eye.
The auditorium was packed for who many believe will be Dave’s inheritor; indeed, the PM was there too. George could not miss an opportunity.
So, with a crack in his voice, the Chancellor said: “One person always backed me in private and in public and never wavered in their support. I want to thank him. That is the person who’s led our country with integrity, intelligence and imagination. Mr friend, our prime minister, David Cameron.”
In other words, please, please Dave, old chum, old buddy, back me when the time comes to move on.
The nub of the inheritor’s speech was about how the Tories were now intent on being the nation’s builders whether it’s houses, railways or power stations while Labour are nothing more than “wreckers”.
George the Builder attempted a joke, noting how the Labour Left’s proposal to print money to build things was “not monetarism; it’s magic money-tree ism”.
At this point, tumbleweed passed through the silent conference hall but George was quick to redeem himself when he quipped: “Mind you, I’d better be careful not to disagree with Jeremy Corbyn about absolutely everything or else he’ll invite me to join his Cabinet.”
Declaring his saintliness by wanting to “slay dragons that stand in Britain’s way”, George’s key moment came when he spoke of a “devolution revolution”; giving English councils £26 billion worth of lovely business rate cash to spend.
Of course, like the grandparental leave and infrastructure commission ideas, this policy had been half-inched from Labour.
It has to be said governing parties normally steal their rivals’ ideas ahead of a general election, not after one.
But Osborne is hoping his bag of Labour goodies will lead him all the way to the Tory crown; with a little help, of course, from his bestest chum, Dave.
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