There is more pleasure to be had from the quality of the writing in Janan Ganesh’s new biography of the chancellor than there is from the subject matter itself.
Ganesh’s prose is fluent and accessible – although his own prejudices occasionally come through, particularly on Europe – and ranges comfortably from the young George Osborne’s precocious teenage interest in history and politics, through to his political apprenticeships – most notably his role briefing all Tory leaders from William Hague onwards for prime minister’s questions – his rapid and focused role in the ‘takeover’ of the parliamentary Conservative party following his election as MP for Tatton in 2001, and culminating in some reflections on the errors of the 2012 budget.
The book is interesting because of its chronology of the backroom events and young characters of the Tory opposition years. Aspiring politicians might also have something to learn from Osborne’s four rules of political success, as laid out by Hague at Osborne’s 40th birthday party. First, you have to be able to count: whatever the contest, you just need more votes. Second, ‘you need to get inside an opponent’s mind and soul’; the book maintains that it is the use of this tactic that allowed Osborne to be the first to land parliamentary punches on Gordon Brown. Unfortunately, Ganesh does not enlighten us as to what the other two rules might be, although there is an interesting discussion about whether it is universally true that an opposition party can never win a general election if it deviates from the government’s stated spending plans.
We also learn the Osborne formula for winning a Tory selection meeting: ‘a couple of self-deprecating jokes, followed by passages explaining that Conservatism is a commitment to freedom (denoting low taxes), a duty to others (meaning public services) and pride in Britain (a subtle hint at Euroscepticism)’.
Overall, however, while we may have learnt a bit more about the current chancellor as a result of this book – apparently, for example, he has a sharp sense of humour – there is not much to emerge that is endearing. No high principle, no transformatory mission for Britain. The reason he comes across as power-seeking and calculating is quite simply that he is. Just as well, therefore, if, as Ganesh says, he does not seek to be popular with the public: this book does little to change that.
—————————————————————————————
Kitty Ussher is a research fellow at the Smith Institute and a former Treasury minister
—————————————————————————————
George Osborne: The Austerity Chancellor
Janan Ganesh
Biteback Publishing | 368pp | £20