There’s not been a battle between Boris the Mayor and George the Chancellor or me the Prime Minister.
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We will extend the northern line to Battersea – or the Wandsworth powerhouse, as it is probably now called in the Treasury.
Today he heaped praise on the current Tory leadership, but suggested that the flagship polices championed by Downing Street were originally his.
“We are moving to an economy where you get paid more and where you pay less in tax, rather than paying more in tax and getting the money back in tax credits”. And after a week of nearly entirely content-free speeches apparently created to assist the onset of the viewers’ afternoon nap, it was refreshing to listen to somebody who actually had something to say and knew how to say it. These were to address a weakness – pre-caesar haircut perceptions about him – and to carve out his own political territory while remaining wholly loyal to Cameron.
And of course there is one conflict they relish above all others, and that is economic class war the belief that you can exalt the poor and the needy by bashing the wealth creators imposing punitive taxation and in the words of John Macdonnell, an avowed Marxist who is seriously putting himself forward as the man to run the economy fermenting – sic – the destruction of capitalism. “Let’s face it”, he said, “there were moments when lots of people had doubts whether our plans would work, moments, as I was well aware, when people had doubts about me”. “So I’m damn well going to try”. There were barely-coded attacks on his leadership rivals.
Currently, Osborne is the clear favourite, ahead of Boris Johnson.
The Chancellor said he would be “very surprised” if the Mayor of London did not make the frontbench.
British finance minister George Osborne has emerged as a potential successor to David Cameron as head of the Conservatives amid buzz at the party’s annual conference over who the favourite might be. Though his speech was more serious than at previous conferences, he also offered his traditional series of jokes, including a few at his own expense. To the centre to occupy ground vacated by Labour?
Mr Cameron rejected suggestions that Mr Johnson and Mr Osborne are at war with one another, following reports that the Mayor will use his speech to accuse the Chancellor of stealing his policies.
Mr Johnson said: “We must make sure as we reform welfare and as we cut taxes that we protect the hardest working and the lowest paid – retail staff, cleaners, the people who get up in the small hours, work through the night because they have dreams about what they and their families can achieve”.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers his Autumn Statement to MPs in the House of Commons.
Home Secretary Theresa May came under fire in the Boris show.
She angered businesses and charities however with her comments that high levels of migration have a “close to zero” net economic and fiscal effect on the country. “What a revolting speech”, one said.
He hit back after David Davis joined Tory demands for a rethink, warning that the squeeze could prove as damaging to the party as the poll tax was under Margaret Thatcher. Pretty much all of them have melded into one.
The shameless Chancellor used his conference speech to lay claim to Labour’s historic mission and lure defectors from the party’s right. This was a momentous step in the modernisation of the party but it leaves deep wounds of resentment that are felt to this day.
But today the Home Secretary Theresa May gave a speech so utterly opposed to immigration that it reminded many here that she too might be a contender, setting out an agenda well to the right of Mr Osborne. “It’s hard for schools and hospitals and core infrastructure like housing and transport to cope”.
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The strong language had the feel of a cry of frustration from May who believes that Cameron may be to blame for a failure which could blight her leadership chances. No such constraints apply to Boris Johnson who is simply a member of the informal political cabinet.
