Tory members agree Osborne should be Shadow Chancellor OR General Election Co-ordinator
In the latest ConHome survey 67% of members agreed that "George Osborne should either be Shadow Chancellor or General Election Co-Ordinator. The two jobs are too big for one man." 20% disagreed.
I made the case for a more focused Mr Osborne a few weeks ago on ConHome and, again, today in the Yorkshire Post:
"In these dreadful economic circumstances, preparing to be Chancellor is a big enough job for any man or woman but George Osborne has another job. He is also the Conservative Party's General Election co-ordinator. He has held both jobs since David Cameron became Tory leader in 2005. Mr Osborne has excelled at the elections role. He has had a big hand in all of the Conservative Party's big political breakthroughs of recent years. Whether it was Boris Johnson's success in London, the pivotal Crewe & Nantwich by-election victory last year or forcing Brown to cancel his plans for an October 2007 General Election, the Conservative Party owes a great deal to Osborne's giant political brain.
When he took on the two jobs, our economy was relatively okay and the workload looked manageable. The same cannot be said of today and many friends of the Conservative Party now worry at reports that Mr Osborne only spends half of his time on his economy brief. I don't think this position is sustainable. In such difficult economic times, we need a full-time Chancellor and a full-time elections co-ordinator. Osborne could do either job well, but risks excelling in neither if he does not choose one or the other."
It's advice I don't expect to be accepted!
Tim Montgomerie
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