Osborne Will Stay As Finance Minister – Cameron
LONDON (Reuters) – George Osborne will still be Britain’s Chancellor by the next general election in 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday, in response to speculation that he would be replaced in a cabinet reshuffle.
“George Osborne is doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances and he has my full support in going on and doing that job,” he said on Sky television.
Asked whether he would still be chancellor at the next election, Cameron replied: “He’s not going anywhere.”
Asked the same question again, Cameron replied “yes.”
After a slide back into recession and a poorly communicated budget in March which appeared to make the poor and elderly pay for a tax cut for the rich, Osborne has faced his toughest period since taking office in 2010.
A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed just 15 percent of voters thought Osborne was doing a good job. Only one in five said Cameron should keep his right-hand man, a result echoed in a Sunday Mirror/Independent on Sunday poll by Comres.
But ministers and government officials have already dismissed talk of Osborne’s imminent departure, arguing it would throw the government’s economic policy into chaos and could put Britain’s credit rating at risk.
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