The Evening Standard accused George Osborne of a conflict of interest... in yesterday's edition
The Evening Standard accused George Osborne of a conflict of interest, the day before announcing his appointment as the newspaper’s editor.
The City Spy column criticised Osborne’s reaction to the resignation of Charlotte Hogg, who stood down from her position as the Bank of England’s deputy governor after failing to disclose her family’s links with Barclays’ Bank.
The piece read: ‘Clearly he [Osborne] feels that conflicts of interest and incompetence are no resigning matter for public officials.
‘Spy wonders whether his opinion was coloured by the fact that his wife, Frances, is a chum of Hogg and he worked for her father Douglas (Viscount Hailsham) during the BSE crisis.
‘Conflicts of interest in his opinion on Charlotte, perhaps?’
The announcement of George Osborne as editor has been met with widespread incredulity and a barrage of accusations that his position as an MP would prevent him from carrying out the role with impartiality.
Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, said Mr Osborne’s new job was “incompatible” with his role as an MP.
Osborne also earns £650,000 a year for a one-day-a-week role with U.S. fund manager Blackrock, and his speeches have earned him around £800,000 over the last six months,
A spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the called the appointment “another example of the establishment revolving door”.
This just in. pic.twitter.com/ZBBfW3xsIB
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) March 17, 2017
The Evening Standard has been less than complimentary about their new editor in the past.
An article published on 8 March reported that Mr Osborne was set to be paid a salary of £650,000 ‘working just four days a month’, and another piece published in November 2016 scorned the former chancellor for receiving ‘almost £100K for five hours of speeches’.
On 24 March 2016, the paper described Osborne’s plummeting ratings after a ‘disastrous budget’, and in April 2016 accused him of ‘repeatedly missing his own targets‘.