Osborne Should Apologise

Yesterday a huge blow was dealt to the integrity of the chancellor George Osborne. The Treasury Select Committee had called Paul Tucker, who you should remember as the man that Barclays’ claimed instructed them to fix the LIBOR rate. In an interview with the Spectator Magazine, the chancellor had claimed that Labour ministers were clearly involved in instructing Paul Tucker to tell Barclays’ that their borrowing rate need not be as low. To be specific Osborne accused Ed Balls of involvement saying “he [Ed Balls] clearly has questions to answer.” This provoked a furious reaction in the House of Commons the next day as Ed Balls demanded that Osborne produce evidence to back up his claim, which Osborne was unable to do.

At the select committee hearing, Tucker said that Labour ministers had “absolutely not” instructed him to tell Barclays’ to fix the LIBOR rate. This completely clears Balls and the rest of the Labour party in the eyes of most people; as a result the Labour Party has demanded that Osborne issue a full, public apology. I highly doubt that Osborne will do this; instead he will rhyme off some excuses and try to ignore the issue.

Most people believe that Osborne was trying to regain some of his reputation that he lost following the disastrous budget. Instead he has managed to lose more of it, by falsely accusing a senior Labour minister of wrongdoing; Osborne has shown himself to be an idiot. He will pay for this mistake dearly.