Osborne ‘won’t mastermind 2015 election’
By politics.co.uk staff
George Osborne is giving up his election strategy job, according to reports, for the 2015 general election campaign.
Osborne – dubbed a "part-time chancellor" by the Labour opposition – was behind the 2010 'big society' campaign which failed to give David Cameron an overall majority.
He remains a close adviser to the prime minister but is now viewed as having spent too much time in No 10 plotting with Cameron, the Mail newspaper reported.
The chancellor is now expected to spend more time dealing with the double-dip recession which is currently blighting Britain – and the Conservatives' prospects of staying in power after 2015.
Lynton Crosby, who ran Boris Johnson's successful campaign to be re-elected as mayor of London earlier this year, is being touted as Osborne's successor in the election supremo role.
Crosby won plaudits for controlling Boris, one of the most unpredictable politicians in the country, in the re-run of his battle against Ken Livingstone.
Osborne, by contrast, has had a difficult year. His 2012 Budget is viewed as one of the worst in living memory, featuring regrettable stances on charitable donations, caravans, church improvements and – most memorably – pasties, which had to be subsequently reversed.
One minister told the Mail: "We either get the economy right or we lose. Sorting the economy is the best contribution to winning an election and George knows that. That is the only strategy we have."
Details about the chancellor's close working relationship with the prime minister emerged during the Leveson inquiry, which established that the chancellor attends meetings at No 10 every weekday afternoon at 16:00. These discussions will continue, No 11 has insisted.
