The pressure’s still on Osborne

George Osborne’s hanging on – for now.  The chronology the Tories released seems convincing, and he has the backing of David Cameron.  But the forces against him are ranking up.  Yesterday evening, Nat Rothschild unveiled a witness to back up his allegations – one New York fund manager, James Goodwin.  The basic position, though, remains the same – it’s essentially one man’s word against another’s.  And as CoffeeHouser Ricardo so rightly put it yesterday:

We’ve got to decide who’s word to accept: a politician or a man who runs a hedge fund. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Where did I put that coin?

This uncertainty comes across in this morning’s papers; few come down completely on one side or the other.  If there is a consensus, it’s probably that – regardless of the legality of it all – Osborne was stupid to put himself in this situation (for the best take, check out Peter Oborne’s column in today’s Mail).  But will the narrative change today?  Stay tuned.