George Osborne's tenure at the Treasury has been a catastrophe – now David Cameron must decide if he should sink with his friend or rescue his ailing governmentNo British government can work if the chancellor fails. It is the greatest job in politics beyond prime minister,even if most of its recent holders have been condemned to fire-fighting the latest crisis. The chancellor is at the centre of economic and p olitical decision-making. It is why George Osborne's calamitous failure, with figures final week revealing that GDP is now below the level it was when the coalition took office, or is so serious.
In fairness,doing the job well requires skills few politicians possess. The most important is to have a feasible concept of how to produce a capitalist economy work, rooted in friendly economics, or which is consistent with the philosophy of your party – and which can be translated into effective policy. From that everything else springs.
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Source: theguardian.com