Prime minister offers light-hearted leadership advice after chancellor referred to Christian MP as 'brother'
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David Cameron and George Osborne behaved like two public schoolboys vying for election to the Etonian society Pop at a meeting of the 1922 committee, according to witnesses. Chris Ratcliffe/EPA
George Osborne and David Cameron looked mighty pleased with themselves when they put in a joint appearance at a meeting of the Tory 1922 committee after the Budget on Wednesday.
One MP said they were "joshing" with eachother like two public schoolboys hoping to be elected to the elite Eton society Pop.
But intriguing details have emerged from the meeting which tell us two things about the two men who currently control the Conservative party, as I report in Friday's Guardian. First, they have a remarkable ability to upset the party. Second, Cameron clearly loves to make light of Osborne's leadership ambitions.
This became apparent at the 1922 meeting when Osborne mounted a strong defence of his decision to relax Sunday trading laws during the Olympics and Paralympics. James Forsyth has blogged that Osborne defended his decision as he highlighted the restrictions on large stores:
I don't remember the line from Leviticus that says you can work in an off licence on a Sunday but not a supermarket.
Osborne then caused some offence when he described his decision as rational but admitted that some Christian MPs might disagree with him. According to witnesses, he singled out the Etonian Andrew Selous, a director of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, to joke that "Brother Selous" would not be happy. Selous, who is a ministerial aide to the Christian work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, was reportedly unamused.
Spotting his unease, the prime minister could be heard joking to Osborne that he would have to make it up to the "Christian Right". This was seen as light-hearted leadership advice. Eyewitnesses said that a smiling Cameron then looked towards Desmond Swayne, his parliamentary aide who is a patron of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. In another joke the prime minister could be seen telling Osborne that he would have to reach out by spending time with "Dessie"
The performance showed that Cameron is supremely relaxed about Osborne's leadership ambitions. But it also showed that the prime minister and chancellor both need to tread carefully to avoid alienating their party which is no longer divided between pro-Europeans and eurosceptics. The real divide is now between public schoolboys and those educated in the state sector, though this time they appear to have upset an Etonian.