Peter Hoskin

Are the knives out for Osborne?

How much have the Deripaska affair and the Tories’ flimsy response to the economic and financial crises affected George Osborne’s standing within his party?  A fair bit, if this survey of party members by ConservativeHome is anything to go by.  I quote from their findings:

“…support for the Shadow Chancellor has also plunged among the Tory grassroots.  Our latest survey of over 1,600 rank-and-file members found that 49% were satisfied with Mr Osborne but 47% were dissatisfied; a net positive rating of just 2%. That is a huge shift since last month when George Osborne enjoyed a net positive rating of +70%.”

Osborne currently enjoys the support of David Cameron.  But – in the absence of a coherent Tory message on the economy – surveys like this make one wonder whether that will last.

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