George Osborne

Profile

George Gideon Oliver Osborne MP (born 23 May 1971) is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role he was appointed to in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.

Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in Ireland as the Ascendancy. He is the heir to the Osborne baronetcy (of Ballentaylor in County Tipperary). He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, before becoming a Conservative researcher, and then an MP.

Osborne is the eldest son of four children and heir of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet, who co-founded the firm of fabric and wallpapers designers, Osborne & Little.

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.”

Osborne was educated at two independent schools in west London: at Norland Place School in Holland Park and St Paul’s School in Barnes (near Hammersmith), followed by Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where he received a 2:1 in Modern History. At Oxford he edited the university’s Isis magazine, and was a member of the infamous Bullingdon Club. He also attended Davidson College in North Carolina for a semester as a Dean Rusk Scholar.

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. He also briefly worked for Selfridges. He originally intended to pursue a career in journalism, but instead got a job at Conservative Central Office.

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 successive leaderships of Michael Howard and David Cameron he remained on the Prime Minister’s Questions team.

Further Information:

• Guardian Summary
• BBC Summary