David Cameron may be monarch of Britain’s coalition but George Osborne is its first minister. He is keeper of the purse, custodian of the flame and author of the narrative.Over five years he has been sometimes hesitant, sometimes bombastic, but today he surveyed the forthcoming election battlefield and sent his party forward: slogan-shouting, banner-flying – “from austerity into prosperity” – and a year early.
There is no point complaining that Osborne’s budget was brazenly “political”. That is his job. As Machiavelli said, a prince who cannot retain power loses the option on goodness. The chancellor even boasted a little goodness of his own, promising not to “give away” the past year’s windfall of bank sales, welfare savings and lower interest rates. (He gave away something else instead.) As for his conduct of office, his apologia was simple: it worked.
It is hard to portray Osborne as dyed-in-the-wool hater of the poor and friend of the rich
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