George Osborne: Top 5 Five Things You Didn't Know About The Chancellor

George Osborne: Five Things You Didn't Know About The Chancellor
|

Chancellor George Osborne has the unenviable task of trying to steer the British economy back towards prosperity.

In Tuesday's Autumn Statement Osborne will reveal his plan for the economy – and it could be one of the defining moments of his career.

Despite his prominence on the political stage he is still a private man and rarely carts out his family for public appearances.

So, what is there about George Osborne that you might not have known?

Here's our Top 5 Osborne facts:

1. TONY BLAIR IS A HERO

Like close friend and political soulmate David Cameron, former prime minister Tony Blair is one of Osborne’s political heroes.

He considers Blair’s memoirs, A Journey, one of his favourite reads and admires the former Labour leader for his three general elections wins.

Cameron and Osborne are often referred to having a similar relationship dynamic as Blair and Brown, although hopefully with less backstage conflict.

2. HE'S THE STAR OF AN ONLINE PARODY SERIES

Created for The World Development Movement, ‘The Real George Osborne’ is a 14-part online comedy featuring an imitation George Osborne and his numerous, always disastrous, PR escapades on his journey to end world hunger.

The series has a serious message at heart as it highlights the plight of the hungry and emphasises the ability of Osborne and his department to play a significant role in ending this.

However, the videos themselves, and the accompanying blog, are crammed with humour.

Osborne also stars in the @DrunkOsborne Twitter account, a parody profile of the Chancellor in which he makes many an inappropriate, inebriated comment on the issues of the day.

3. HE'S REGARDED AS A FUNNY POLITICIAN

Casting aside his poorly-received, tone-lowering zinger at the recent GQ Awards, where he accepted the prize of Politician of the Year, Osborne is known to be one of the more jovial and playful politicians in Westminster.

At his 40th birthday extravaganza, Osborne famously quipped that the driving reason behind his goal to be Chancellor was to avoid going down in history as the political strategist to William Hague – who had only just before given a speech at the party

4. HE'S TENDER AND SENSITIVE, APPARENTLY

Sharing a sweet moment with shadow chancellor Ed Balls on the Andrew Marr Show, Osborne teased his political rival with a jibe that although he wouldn’t cry at Antiques Roadshow, he often finds the Danish murder mystery The Killing a bit moving – which is understandable.

Still, it’s nice to know that after a day of swathing cuts and trying to somehow fashion a working economy, he can go home, unwind, pop open a bottle of red and shed a tear at the telly.

5. HE'S THE 136th MOST ATTRACTIVE MP

Controversial yet hilarious website sexymp.co.uk ranks ‘the Boy George’ as the 142nd sexiest MP in the country, which is actually quite above average considering there are a total 648 members.

The brainchild of entrepreneur and reality TV starlet Francis Boulle, the website considers itself to be “the first ever parliamentary beauty contest” and, being one of the younger MPs in the current batch at a relatively spritely 40, Osborne may be a bit disappointed with his current ranking – although he more likely has some slightly more important matters on his mind.