High visibility George (not the prince)

For long periods of this Coalition, the chancellor was a bit of a recluse – the Greta Garbo of Tory politics. His finger was in every political pie but he didn’t seek out the cameras. It was uncannily like the approach adopted by Gordon Brown during his premiership, emerging like a submarine breaking surface at tactical moments before returning for months on end to the murky depths.

Now you can’t avoid images of George Osborne, nearly always in a high visibility jacket. There are as yet unsubstantiated rumours that he sleeps in the things. Last night, he was wide awake on the night shift with unsung heroes of Britain’s economy as they worked through the dark hours. This morning, on the back of the first estimate of 2nd quarter GDP growth,  he was on the airwaves saying that “Britain has held its nerve” (for which read: I held my nerve and deserve  political credit for this).

Labour is moving to new ground in response to the figures. In press releases and statements the emphasis shifts from missing growth (still a problem but relegated to the second paragraph of their statements) to  living standards – such growth as there is, it’s not translating into rises in real incomes.

I hear that at last week’s Chequers cabinet awayday the government’s senior members were told that Britain was now on track to be Europe’s biggest economy … but not ’til around 2030 or so.  Some cabinet ministers thought that distant promise might be a tough sell on the doorsteps. (The fundamental driver of this progress is demographic – British couples having more children on average than German couples – it’s produced different estimates over the years. One suggests we become economic top dog in 2025,  another suggested 2050.

I’m told that the same presentation at Chequers also went on to say that Britain was now the best country in the world to live in if you are gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/trans-gender and also the best country in terms of rights and access etc if you are disabled.

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