At one point in The Godfather Part III, Michael Corleone sagely remarks: “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.” It was this lesson that George Osborne, as so often in his political career, forgot this week. After his aides were forced to “clarify” that he had never alleged that Ed Balls was personally involved in the Libor scandal (rather that he had “questions to answer”, a distinction without a difference if ever there was one), opinion is hardening among Conservative MPs that the Chancellor has overreached himself.
In a fascinating piece in today’s Times (£), Sam Coates and Roland Watson collate a series of off-the-record barbs from Tory backbenchers. One MP describes Osborne’s obsession with the alleged role of Balls and “Whitehall sources” in the scandal as a “red herring”, adding: “There was no smoking gun.” Another opines: “People want us to sort out the effing banks, not worry about what Ed Balls might have said four years ago.” Osborne’s dual role as Chancellor and chief Tory strategist is also called into question (the increasing view among Tory MPs is that he isn’t good at either job). One MP comments: “When are we going to get a Chancellor who is not part time? You can’t run the sixth largest economy in the world with a mate-ocracy.”
The irony is that Osborne’s jihad against Balls was intended to restore his Budget-battered reputation. But the Chancellor’s obsessive desire to pin the scandal on Labour meant that he missed an obvious truth: what matters most is who is seen to have the right policy now. In the eyes of the public, the Tories’ refusal to sanction a judicial inquiry (something that enjoyed the support of 75 per cent of voters, according to YouGov) or to levy new taxes on the banks (Richard Reeves, Nick Clegg’s outgoing director of strategy, tells today’s Independent that the Lib Dems were pushing for a 10 per cent surcharge on bankers’ bonuses) has confirmed their status as the political wing of the City of the London. As so often, Osborne, the man charged with constructing a Conservative majority, has achieved the reverse.
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