Isabelle Oakeshott has a STORY in the Sunday Times tomorrow which seeks to pour yet more petrol on the GET GEORGE OSBORNE fire. But it is so preposterous you almost have to laugh if this is the best she can come up with. She asserts that Tory activists want rid of George Osborne. The only actual quote she comes up with is this...
Activists contributing to party websites have labelled his interventions on Gordon Brown’s economic policy as ill-judged. Some on the ConservativeHome website voiced fears that he could cost the party the next election.
“It is extremely hard to find anyone in the City who now takes him seriously,” said Mark Hudson, one contributor.
There's only one problem with that. Mark Hudson left the Conservative Party two years ago and is now a member of UKIP. All he ever does on ConHome is leave anti-Tory comments. Ok, you might say, she's just picked one out of dozens and was unlucky. Nope. HERE's one thread on the subject and HERE's a later one. Around 90% of the comments support Osborne. I couldn't find one which expressed the fear that he "could cost the party the next election", although I admit I only skim-read them.
She then makes another assertion...
Some Tory MPs have accused David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, of stirring up the row for his own ends. But Davis has privately made it clear that he has no interest in Osborne’s job, pointing out that his views on tax cutting are at odds with the party leadership.
Note the lack of any quotes to back up the DD allegation - not even anonymous ones. But the two sentences rather conflict with each other, don't they? Why would DD stir up the row for his own ends if he had no interest in Osborne's job? Buggered if I know.
This is not really journalism, is it? Some might describe it as fiction.
And Melissa Kite is throwing in her twopennyworth HERE in the Sunday Telegraph. She reports that the fact that Oliver Letwin is drawing up new plans to cut waste and bureaucracy indicates that George Osborne is being "sidelined".
The fact that Mr Letwin, Mr Osborne's predecessor as shadow chancellor, has been charged with drawing up the spending cuts will fuel the impression that Mr Osborne is being sidelined as the party's ratings on the economy falter.
She explains that Oliver Letwin is the Head of the Conservative Research Department, so you would think that it is his job to come up with new policies like this, wouldn't you? Not in the world of political journalism, apparently, where everything is viewed as a snub, a sleight or a plot.
One wonders what other gems await us in the papers tomorrow. I'll be sure and let you know.
