Chancellor praised for sure touch as he builds up a Court of George in slow burn campaign for Tory leadership
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George Osborne, pictured at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, has strengthened his position within the party over the past week. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian.
George Osborne has much on his mind these days as the eurozone struggles to craft what David Cameron has dubbed a "big bazooka" to stabilise the single currency.
But in the odd moment when he looks beyond a calamitous Greek default two words regularly flit across the mind of the chancellor: Boris Johnson. The London mayor is now Osborne's only serious rival from the current generation of senior Tories for the leadership of the Conservative party after the resignation of Liam Fox.
It may seem slightly absurd to talk about the next Tory leader when the prime minister's position is, as Margaret Thatcher once said, unassailable. But Osborne is steadily building up a court to ensure that he moves from being the immediate "under the bus" candidate to become the natural successor when Cameron steps down in his own time at some point between 2017-2020.
Tory MPs say that Osborne moved decisively ahead of Johnson last week when he showed a sure touch during the week-long downfall of Fox. They say the chancellor showed this in two ways:
• His lieutenants lined up to praise Fox after his statement to MPs last Monday. This will not be forgotten by supporters of Fox who rallied to the defence of Osborne when he ran into trouble during the Yachtgate saga in 2008.
• Osborne showed his dominance over the party and the government by stamping his mark on the reshuffle after Fox resigned. Philip Hammond, his deputy in opposition, was appointed defence secretary; Justine Greening, one of his Treasury ministers, was promoted to the cabinet to replace Hammond as transport secretary; Chloe Smith, a whip, replaced Greening; and the chancellor's former PPS, Greg Hands, replaced Smith and now serves as the Treasury whip. Osborne then reached out to the talented 2010 intake by appointing Sajid Javid, the son of a bus driver who was a managing director at Deutsche Bank before he was elected MP for Bromsgrove last year, as his new PPS.
One senior Tory said:
George acquitted himself very well last week. He will be pleased that, for the moment at least, he is decisively ahead of Boris. The way he handled Liam should be worth at least ten votes. It all counts.
But George needs two things to go his way. His gamble on the economy needs to work. If he doesn't then he's finished. His team also needs to work on selling him. Let's just say he doesn't quite have the prime minister's natural touch.
The creation of a Court of George is drawing comparisons with the tactics of Gordon Brown as he moved after the 1997 Labour landslide to make himself the inevitable successor to Tony Blair. There is a similarity at one level – Osborne is following Brown's example in building up a court and a praetorian guard to promote and protect his interests. He has signed up some key figures, including the mayor's own brother, Jo, who was elected MP for Orpington at the last election.
But there is one major difference with Brown who spent ten years in No 11 undermining a sitting prime minister. Osborne is wholeheartedly supportive of the prime minister who is his closest political friend. Their futures are entwined at a political level – they live or die according to the success of the deficit reduction plan. But they are also entwined in a personal sense. Cameron and Osborne are godparents to eachother's children and have proved inseparable since they bonded during their first term in parliament after the 2001 election as they worked out how to modernise the Conservative party.
The prime minister is supremely relaxed by the creation of the Court of George. Cameron completely understands the leadership ambitions of Osborne who stood aside to run his campaign in 2005.
One other key figure will quietly be pleased. Michael Howard, the former Tory leader, thought Osborne would be a better candidate in 2005 than Cameron even though the future chancellor was only 34 at the time.