GEORGE Osborne has been called on to step down as an MP after it was announced that he has been appointed as editor of the London Evening Standard – his fifth role outside Parliament.
His appointment was met with incredulity and criticism from some MPs and journalists with Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, saying it made a "mockery of media neutrality and insults the voters he is supposed to serve".
Martin Bell, the former MP for Tatton in Cheshire, whom Mr Osborne replaced in 2001, wondered if the announcement was "fake news".
The National Union of Journalists said: "Genuinely qualified journalists who would have done this hugely important job seriously are seeing it snatched away in a blatant, cynical political move."
Labour MP John Mann called on the former Chancellor to resign, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: "He's taking the mickey out of the taxpayer...and he should step down as an MP."
Tom Watson, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said, that with the incompatible demands of editing a newspaper and being an MP: "I assume the former Chancellor will give up his seat in Parliament in due course and trigger a by-election."
His Labour colleague Clive Lewis said he would be making a formal complaint to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments - which vets jobs taken by ex-ministers - that Mr Osborne had not cleared his new role with it.
"The rules are clear. Osborne has shown total contempt for those rules and I am calling for them to be enforced without fear or favour," he said.
However, Mr Osborne’s shock move was welcomed by his Conservative colleague Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, calling it a "brilliant appointment for the Evening Standard and good for London", adding: "Hooray!"
The Standard said Mr Osborne, who will take up his role in May, would edit the paper four days a week but have time to work in Parliament in the afternoon once the paper had gone to print.
The Tory MP, who was sacked as Chancellor by Theresa May last year, replaces Sarah Sands, who is leaving after five years at the helm to join the BBC.
He said: "I am proud to be a Conservative MP but as editor and leader of a team of dedicated and independent journalists, our only interest will be to give a voice to all Londoners."
Mr Osborne, 45, tried to become a journalist before his political career began. He was shortlisted for but failed to gain a place on The Times trainee scheme. He then applied to The Economist, where he was interviewed but rejected. He later became a freelance, working on the Peterborough diary column of The Daily Telegraph.
Evgeny Lebedev, the newspaper's owner, called the former Chancellor "London through and through" and lauded him as someone of "huge political achievement, and economic and cultural authority".
He said: "Once he put himself forward for the position, he was the obvious choice."
Speaking to staff in his new office, Mr Osborne told them he would listen to their advice over how they produce a "great paper", adding: "I have got to learn from you because I may have run a country but I have never run a newspaper."
The new job brings the total of his extra-parliamentary roles to five, including one unpaid Northern Powerhouse role and his public speaking.
Mr Osborne told the Commons Register of Members' Interests he expected to be paid £162,500 every three months for 12 days working as an "adviser on the global economy" for the BlackRock Investment Institute.
He will be paid £120,000 this year to be a Kissinger Fellow at the McCain Institute in Washington DC.
This comes on top of his £75,000 salary as an MP, while he has also registered more than £780,000 in payments for 14 speeches since last September.
In Tatton, some 190 miles from Mr Osborne's new job, some voters questioned his move.
Lee King, assistant manager at the Lord Eldon pub, said: "How can somebody work four days a week doing something and be an MP? It just doesn't make sense. It's madness. If he want's to be a voice for the people and work as an MP he should stick to that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel