The announcement that George Osborne is to take over as editor of The London Evening Standard is just another example of corruption in high places.
What experience does the ex-Chancellor have of editing a large circulation newspaper? Zilch.
The salary he will earn has not been disclosed, but it is unlikely to be a major factor in his decision to go for the job. He has been sidelined since David Cameron quit as PM following his EU referendum humiliation. And that must hurt. He was unceremoniously kicked out as soon as Theresa May formed her first Cabinet.
Conservatism’s golden boy (in his own estimation) deserves a front row seat in current politics. He should not be sitting on the back benches, representing his constituents and supporting the government. No, he has more important things to do. Like making sure nobody forgets what an important person he is. And if he can use his position at the forefront of London’s only free daily evening paper to promote his own political career, what is the harm in that?
Why, you might ask, would the owners of the paper recruit such an inexperienced man? The Standard’s owner, Lebedev is a multi-millionaire. A Russian oligarch with a conviction for hooliganism (for punching another guest during a TV programme) he owns the Independent newspaper, as well as an interest in the anti-Putin publication Novaya Gazeta.
Traditionally, ex-Chancellors and ex-Prime Ministers can expect a warm and generous welcome from the banking sector after leaving office. Perhaps the bankers do not want to get on the wrong side of the woman who sacked Osborne, Theresa May. Not to worry. Lebedev is a banker too. Time to set up a nice little sinecure for Osborne, the loyal servant of finance capital for so many years.
As a thank you for spending his entire time as Chancellor attacking the poor, reducing welfare spending, cutting the wages of millions of NHS, central and local government employees, a job as editor of a newspaper might seem a paltry reward. But George does not need a lot of money to get by. He already earns a generous MP’s salary, plus hundreds of thousands of pounds for speaking to rich people (speaking engagements earned him hundreds of thousands of pounds last year). And only last week it was revealed that he earns £650,000 per year working one day a week for BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager.
If it is not the money that drew slippery George to journalism. It is probably the opportunity to stick it to the woman who sacked him.