Former chancellor George Osborne has HOW many jobs?

Is this right? Surely an PM's position should take up most of his time???



Former chancellor George Osborne has HOW many jobs?
The new role raises potential conflicts of interests for the former chancellor, who is still an MP and already has several jobs


If John Prescott was "two jags" then George Osborne, who is taking over as editor of the Evening Standard, is surely destined to be "six jobs".

When he was Chancellor, he often wondered whether Britain had a productivity problem; he seems determined to correct it single-handedly.
Let's take his jobs in turn:
:: He's a speaker at the Washington Speaker's Bureau, where he has a lucrative contract to perform after-dinner speeches around the world
:: He's a chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (not an obvious position for the editor of London's biggest newspaper)
:: He's an advisor to the American fund management firm Blackrock. He's thought to be paid £650,000 a year (yes, you read that right) for working one day a week for the company (yes, you read that right as well)
:: He's a fellow at the McCain Institute, an American think tank
:: He will be (as of mid-May) the editor of London's Evening Standard newspaper
:: And oh yes ... he's (still) the MP for Tatton (a salary of £75,000 a year plus expenses).


Having other jobs alongside being an MP is not especially unusual. Plenty of MPs do it, but few have quite so many and none can now rival Mr Osborne in terms of outside earnings.
It is also unprecedented in the modern era for a newspaper editor to be a sitting MP.
:: Osborne criticised over Evening Standard role
The worlds of politics and journalism are uneasy bedfellows at the best of times.

Usually MPs turn from poacher to gamekeeper and leave Parliament if they become newspaper editors. For example, Bill Deedes became editor of the Telegraph in 1974 after leaving the House of Commons.
You have to go all the way back to the 19th century to find one who combined both roles as CP Scott who edited the (Manchester) Guardian whilst sitting as a Liberal MP.

There are many potential conflicts of interest, both personal and political.
For Mr. Osborne's critics, the question will arise of how, with so many other hats, it will be possible for him to discharge his duties effectively as an MP, not only in terms of time but also in terms of voting without prejudice.
For example, how will he now vote on press regulation? And if a vote takes place on transport funding, for whom does the ex-Chancellor speak? His northern Cheshire constituents or Londoners for whom he promised today to "be their voice"?
And then there's the wider political problems. Is every article and editorial written against the Government viewed as a personal attack on Mr Osborne's erstwhile colleagues?
If the paper takes a line does he vote accordingly or - if there's a whip - with his Government?
The rune readers of Westminster will try and divine Mr Osborne's intentions. Does this mean he's through with politics? But if that were the case why not simply resign his seat and make his life much easier?
But given his constituency is about to be abolished in a forthcoming boundary review, becoming the editor of a London newspaper is hardly likely to endear him to the selection panel of a new Cheshire constituency.

Tantalisingly perhaps, Mr. Osborne, considered by many Tories to be Remainer-in-Chief, is looking to build a new powerbase in the equally Remainery capital.
The London mayoral election is, after all, only three years away...


http://news.sky.com/story/george-osbornes-evening-standard-role-raises-potential-conflicts-of-interest-10805063

Alan Rusbridger, who used to be the editor of The Guardian, said on The World Today :-

"I was absolutely amazed. For someone who has no journalism experience and is going to work part-time in a very demanding job and is going to have all the conflicts of interest involved in being an MP at the same time, is very surprising.

I think he will find it more demanding than he thinks - I saw him saying he would get up early then go on to work in the afternoon but that`s not how newspapers work; evening newspapers don`t stop at 11 o`clock in the morning because there`s the next day`s papers to produce, there`s all the problems of trying to find a business model, all the management issues that come with any kind of job; unless he`s just going to be a titulary editor but even that doesn`t work because when you edit something you`re where the buck stops; if there`s ever a libel problem or a criminal problem or a member of staff in danger or problems with sources or whistleblowers - those are the problems that come to you at any time of day or night, so I think he`s going to find it very difficult to combine 2, 3, 4 or however many jobs he`s now got.

He`s obviously an extremely clever - he knows his way around politics, I`m told he writes well, that`s fine, and I`m sure he can find an able deputy who will put the paper together and write the headlines but there`s all kinds of matters of technology and digital knowledge that`s he`s going to have to understand and learn; there are relationships with advertisers and things that I`m sure his proprietor will expect him to attend to, but he`s obviously a clever man and people will wish him well.

What about the conflicts of interest in writing about the banking industry, what about the conflicts between politics and journalism - they are two different things - they`re on different sides of the barricades. You`ve seen when Boris Johnson moved from being an irreverent columnist to a foreign secretary and then had to apologise for nearly every single column he`d ever written on foreign affairs - they`re two different things. What are the 22 Committee going to think when they have a journalist in the room; what is Theresa May going to think when there`s a 3 line whip and George Osborne is having to decide whether he`s the journalist or the policitian? These things are difficult to reconcile. "

Guardian article highlighting the conflicts of interest :-

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/18/george-osborne-laughing-evening-standard-david-cameron

I think he will be told to resign his seat when politically convenient, of course. How could he possibly do any of these jobs competently, and what about his family? Greedy man.

IMO, MPs should not have any other paid job.

Mimi wrote:Guardian article highlighting the conflicts of interest :-

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/18/george-osborne-laughing-evening-standard-david-cameron

The problem I have with that is, even when The Guardian actually have a point, I can't bring myself to accept it.

Luna wrote:I think he will be told to resign his seat when politically convenient, of course.  How could he possibly do any of these jobs competently, and what about his family?  Greedy man.

IMO, MPs should not have any other paid job.

Well he failed as a chancellor another job to fail at isn't out of order.

unreorganised wrote:

Mimi wrote:Guardian article highlighting the conflicts of interest :-

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/18/george-osborne-laughing-evening-standard-david-cameron

The problem I have with that is, even when The Guardian actually have a point, I can't bring myself to accept it.

I know what you mean ......... when it comes from The Guardian.

Heisenburg wrote:

Luna wrote:I think he will be told to resign his seat when politically convenient, of course.  How could he possibly do any of these jobs competently, and what about his family?  Greedy man.

IMO, MPs should not have any other paid job.

Well he failed as a chancellor another job to fail at isn't out of order.

Fine if he fails in his new employment, I don't care. What I am concerned about is the fact that he is an MP - a full-time job - paid by taxpayers, and the conflict of interest that will arise as an editor of a "newspaper".

I noticed the headline where he said, " I ran the country, now I'm going to run a newspaper." Wonder what his old mate "Call me Dave" thinks of that.

It`s almost like he`s having a manic episode. When these occur you think you can do anything, you have vast amounts of energy, your brain speeds up, you know everything and you are deluded into thinking you are someone special. But will it all come crashing down?

That Alan Rusbridger spiel Mimi quoted was interesting -

- twice he said George Osborne was 'obviously a clever man'...

...and yes, I do wonder if he has a touch of the ol' mania -

- endogenous or otherwise?

I'm going to do a Spivey and ask him to please cast us a spell :



Cheers, Gideon...!

All worked out quite well for George then ?   He is able to resign without being forced.