| Music Encyclopedia: George Alexander Osborne |
(b Limerick, 24 Sept 1806; d London, 16 Nov 1893). Irish pianist and composer. He studied in Paris with Pixis and Fétis, then with Kalkbrenner, of whose style he became one of the finest exponents. He was a fashionable pianist, well-known teacher and salon composer in London and Paris, where his friends included the most eminent musicians, Berlioz and Chopin among them.
| Wikipedia: George Osborne |
| George Osborne MP | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2005 |
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| Leader | Michael Howard David Cameron |
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| Preceded by | Oliver Letwin |
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Member of Parliament
for Tatton |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Martin Bell |
| Majority | 11,731 (28.3%) |
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| Born | 23 May 1971 Paddington, London, England |
| Birth name | Gideon Osborne |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | The Hon. Frances Osborne
(neé Howell) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Member of Parliament (MP) |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Website | http://www.georgeosborne.co.uk |
George Gideon Oliver Osborne[1] (born 23 May 1971) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001. He is currently Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is heir to the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor, County Tipperary, Ireland.[2] This makes him a member of what is known in Ireland as the Ascendancy, the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy.
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The eldest son and heir of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet (and co-founder of the fabric and wallpapers designers, Osborne & Little), Osborne was educated at the private Norland Place School in Holland Park, St Paul's and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he received a second class degree in Modern History. He was also editor of the university magazine, Isis. He is married to The Hon. Frances Osborne (née Howell), an author and elder daughter of former Conservative Cabinet Minister The Lord Howell). The couple have two young children, Luke and Liberty.[3]
Originally named Gideon, he changed his name to George when he was 13. In an interview in July 2005, Osborne said: "It was my small act of rebellion. I never liked it. When I finally told my mother she said, 'Nor do I'. So I decided to be George after my grandfather, who was a war hero. Life was easier as a George; it was a straightforward name."[4]
Osborne's first job was to provide data entry services to the National Health Service to record the names of people who had died in London.[3] He also briefly worked for Selfridges. He originally intended to pursue a career as a journalist, but, after missing out on a position at a national newspaper, was informed of a vacant job at the Conservative Central Office.[3]
He joined the Conservative Research Department in 1994 and became head of the Political Section. Between 1995 and 1997 he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as special advisor to minister Douglas Hogg (during the BSE crisis) and worked in the Political Office at 10 Downing Street. Between 1997 and 2001 he worked for then Conservative leader William Hague as a speech writer and Political Secretary. In this role he helped prepare Hague for the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions, often playing the role of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Under the leaderships of Michael Howard and now under David Cameron, he has remained on the Prime Minister's Questions team.
Osborne's wealth is estimated at £4.3m.[5] He is also reported to be next in line to inherit the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor in County Tipperary, Ireland, as well as a substantial share of Osborne & Little, his father's luxury wallpaper company.[6]
Elected as the Member of Parliament for Tatton, Cheshire, in June 2001, he succeeded the Independent MP Martin Bell, who had famously defeated the controversial former Conservative minister Neil Hamilton at the 1997 election. Osborne won with a majority of 8,611, becoming (at that time) the youngest Conservative MP in the House of Commons. At the 2005 election, he was re-elected with an increased majority of 11,731, 51.8% of the vote.
In September 2004, Osborne was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Following the 2005 General Election, he was promoted to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer at the young age of 33 by the then-Conservative Party leader Michael Howard. His appointment to such a senior shadow cabinet post at such a young age surprised many. Howard had in fact initially offered the post to William Hague, who turned it down. Press reports suggest that Howard's second choice for the post was in fact David Cameron, who also rejected the job as he preferred to take on a major public service portfolio (he was made Shadow Education Secretary). Thus Howard turned to Osborne as his third choice for the role.[7] Cameron successfully ran for the leadership of the party later that year, with Osborne serving as his campaign manager, and Osborne kept the Shadow Chancellor's post when Cameron became leader.
Osborne has in the past been touted as a possible future leader of the Conservative Party.[8] His close friendship with David Cameron has led to comparisons with the relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the Labour Party in the mid-1990s. Responding to this comparison at the LSE in February 2006, Osborne said that there had been "no deal" between him and Cameron and he has repeatedly denied ambitions beyond the Chancellorship.[citation needed] Asked whether or not he would be willing to sack a close colleague such as Osborne, Cameron stated, "With George, the answer is yes. He stayed in my shadow cabinet not because he is a friend, not because we are godfathers to each other's children but because he is the right person to do the job. I know and he knows that if that was not the case he would not be there."[9]
Osborne has expressed an interest in the ideas of "tax simplification" (including the idea of flat tax). He set up a "Tax Reform Commission" in October 2005 to investigate ideas for how to create a 'flatter, simpler' tax system.
In June 2006 and 2007 Osborne attended the annual Bilderberg Conference.[10][11]
Coming into the 2007 party conference season, the Conservative Party was trailing the Labour party in the polls by a substantial margin, of between 7 and 10 percentage points, depending on the polling organisation. Speculation was rife that Gordon Brown, the Labour Prime Minister was to call a snap election immediately after the conference season: several factors had fuelled this speculation in the media, including the bringing forward of the Chancellor's budget statement in the Commons. It is widely held that the bounce in the polls that the Conservatives enjoyed in the immediate aftermath of their conference was due to two factors: the strength of David Cameron's conference closing speech and the specific economic and tax policies announced by George Osborne in his Shadow Chancellor's address [12] - in particular tax policies on inheritance tax and stamp duty. Many explanations have been given (including by Gordon Brown himself [13]) as to why a snap election was not called, but a key factor is believed to be changes in the polls following the Conservative Party conference.
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This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may mean the article does not present a neutral point of view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the material in those sections into the article as a whole. (September 2009) |
In 2009 he received strong criticism for the way he had handled his expenses, after he was found to have 'flipped' his second home,[14] changing which property he designated as his second home in order to pay less capital gains tax. The Lib Dems estimated he owed £55,000 to the public purse as a result of this.[15] He had previously paid back £1,193 on overpayments on his mortgage and chauffeur fares [16] and was ridiculed when it emerged that he had claimed £47 for two copies of a DVD of his own speech on "value for taxpayers' money"[17] Osborne is currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over mortgage payments from 2003, and second home designation between 2001-2003.[18]
Osborne has criticised Brown aggressively throughout his tenure as Shadow Chancellor.
During Osborne's response to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's Pre-Budget Report on 5 December 2005 (in which Brown announced the revision of his estimate for UK growth in 2005 from 3.50% to 1.75%), Osborne attacked Brown as "a Chancellor past his sell by date, a Chancellor holding Britain back". In an interview the same week, he also referred to Brown as 'brutal' and 'unpleasant'.[19]
Osborne found himself rebuked by the Speaker of the House of Commons on 26 October 2006 when he attacked the Chancellor at Oral Questions to the Chancellor by citing a comment attributed to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton, describing the Chancellor as likely to make an 'effing awful' Prime Minister.[20]
It was widely suggested that Osborne was leading an assault on Brown which would allow the Conservatives to discredit him without damaging David Cameron's softer public image.[21][22] A frequent target for Osborne had been the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls when he was the Treasury's Economic Secretary between 1997-2004. Osborne has made a point of singling him out for his poor media skills.[20]
Osborne has been criticised very heavily by the popular Channel 4 News 'FactCheck' item. FactCheck gives a rating from one to five for political claims where "the lower end of the scale indicates that the claim in question largely checks out, while the upper end suggests misrepresentation, exaggeration and a massaging of statistics and/or language. In the unlikely event that we award a 5 out of 5, our FactCheckers have concluded that the claim under examination has absolutely no basis in fact."[23] For example, Osborne's critique of Gordon Brown's pensions tax was described as "an absurd exaggeration" (receiving a rating of 4 out of 5).[23] Osborne's claims about tax rises have also been given a 4 out of 5 rating, and criticised for not having "very much to do with the actual facts of the case. Nor does it make much of a useful commentary on what is actually happening in the economy."[24] Moreover, Channel 4 was also responsible for publishing e-mails leaked from Osborne's office.[25]
It was revealed in The Daily Mail on 7 April 2007 that whilst at Oxford, George Osborne had been a member of the Bullingdon Club, a notorious Oxford University dining club. This had become a significant political issue after it was revealed that David Cameron had been a member of the club and that it was 'infamous for "trashing" restaurants and other riotous behaviour' and 'is open only to sons of aristocratic families and the super-rich'. The Conservative Party have sought to distance themselves from the antics of the Bullingdon Club's members, particularly because it included many Conservative MPs and various photos in circulation are considered extremely damaging to the new party image.[26]
Osborne visited the White House on 25 April 2007 as part of Malaria Awareness Day. The Times wrote that "George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, will meet President Bush in the White House today in a significant boost to the Conservatives’ international credibility and a thawing in their frosty relations with Washington" and that "Mr Bush wants to talk to Mr Osborne about the Conservatives’ recent announcement that they would pledge £500 million a year to help to wipe out malaria, matching a spending promise made by Washington."[27] However, it transpired that Osborne was one of 150 guests. No meeting was scheduled between Osborne and Bush.[28] The following day, the Times print edition reported that the White House had been active in quashing any claims that Osborne had met Bush.[29] The Conservatives countered that they had never claimed there would be any such meeting, but this claim was ridiculed by the Daily Telegraph's Washington correspondent.[30]
On 21 October 2008, it was alleged that George Osborne tried to solicit a £50,000 donation from Russia's richest man and multi-billionaire, Oleg Deripaska.[31]
The Electoral Commission received a formal complaint initiated in a letter by the Liberal Democrats' Home Affairs Spokesman, Chris Huhne, requesting them to investigate the claims against Osborne[32] but the Commission refused to investigate the complaint saying 'soliciting a donation is not an offence'.[33]
Fellow Lib Dem MP Norman Baker contacted the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards requesting clarification on what MPs should declare in the Register of Members' Interests, alluding to any financial support for an MP to be declared officially, suggesting that Osborne and Lord Mandelson should both declare hospitality received from Rothschild and any potential donation from Mr Deripaska on the Register.
On 14 November 2008, in an intervention described by the BBC's Nick Robinson as "pretty extraordinary",[34] Osborne spoke out warning that the more the government borrows the less attractive sterling becomes. He said: "We are in danger, if the government is not careful, of having a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound." Labelling Gordon Brown's tactic as a "scorched-earth policy", which a future Conservative government would have to clear up, Osborne continued: "His view is he probably won't win the next election. The Tories can clear this mess up after I've gone."[34]
Osborne was also criticised by former Conservative party treasurer Lord Kalms, a prominent supporter of David Davis in the 2005 leadership election, who told the BBC that former shadow home secretary David Davis would be more appropriate as shadow chancellor.[34]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Martin Bell |
Member of Parliament for Tatton 2001–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Oliver Letwin |
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 2005–present |
Incumbent |
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 | Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
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