George Osborne declares war on CCHQ

George Osborne may have stepped away from the front-line of politics when he become editor of the Evening Standard, but the former Chancellor still clearly hasn’t lost his reputation for political ruthlessness.

Osborne’s knives were out this morning, after CCHQ’s press office criticised his paper’s coverage of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. The Standard had accused the government of peddling ‘fake news’, when it claimed that Boris’s Brexit bill had been ‘passed’ by parliament. In fact, the bill had only passed its second reading, suggesting in principle that it had the Commons’ support.

After CCHQ objected to the coverage, claiming the paper’s story was ‘simply not true’, Osborne responded personally on social media, saying:

‘I think you’ll find the Evening Standard team know the difference between a bill passing its second reading in the Commons and a bill passing Parliament. I know it’s been a while since the latter happened, but I’m happy to come in and explain how it’s done.’