Osborne worked for The Daily Telegraph before joining the Conservative Research Department and becoming head of its political section. He was a special adviser to Douglas Hogg at the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and worked at 10 Downing Street as well as for Prime Minister John Major's campaign team in the party's unsuccessful 1997 general election campaign before becoming a speechwriter and political secretary to Major's successor as party leader, William Hague.
In 2001, Osborne was elected as MP for Tatton, becoming the youngest Conservative MP in the House of Commons. He was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Conservative leader Michael Howard in 2004. In 2005, he ran David Cameron's successful leadership campaign. Cameron appointed Osborne Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and, after the 2010 general election, Chancellor in the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Since becoming Chancellor, Osborne has pursued austerity policies aimed at reducing the United Kingdom national debt. After the Conservatives won an overall majority in the 2015 general election, Osborne was reappointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Cameron in his second government and was given the additional title of First Secretary of State.
Osborne announced the introduction of a "National Living Wage" of £7.20/hour, rising to £9/hour by 2020 which would apply to those 25 or over. This was widely cheered by both Conservative MPs and political commentators. He also announced a raise in the income tax personal allowance to £11,000; measures to introduce tax incentives for large corporations to create apprenticeships, aiming for 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020; and a cut in the benefits cap to £23,000 in London and £20,000 in the rest of the country.
The July budget postponed the arrival of a UK surplus from 2019 to 2020 and included an extra £18 billion more borrowing for 2016–20 than planned for the same period in March.
In the July Budget, Osborne also planned to cut tax credits, which top up pay for low-income workers, prompting claims that this represented a breach of promises made by colleagues before the general election in May.[91] Following public opposition and a House of Lords vote against the changes, Osborne scrapped these changes in the 2015 Autumn Statement, saying that higher-than-expected tax receipts gave him more room for manoeuvre. The IFS noted that Osborne's proposals implied that tax credits would still be cut as part of the switch to Universal Credit in 2018.
In Osborne's 2016 budget, he introduced a sugar tax, raised the tax-free allowance for income tax to £11,500 as well as lifting the 40% income tax threshold to £45,000. He also gave initial funding for several large infrastructure projects, such as High Speed 3 (an east–west rail line across the north of England,) Crossrail 2 (a north–south rail line across London), a road tunnel across the Pennines and upgrades to the M62 motorway. There would also be a new "lifetime" Isa for the under-40s, with the government putting in £1 for every £4 saved. There was also £100m allocated to tackle rough sleeping. However, many charities complained that they thought Osborne's 2016 budget favoured big business rather than disabled people.
According to the Guardian, Osborne was "the driving force" behind the BBC licence fee agreement which saw the BBC responsible for funding the £700m welfare cost of free TV licences for the over-75s, meaning that it lost almost 20% of its income. The Guardian also noted Osborne's four meetings with News Corp representatives and two meetings with Rupert Murdoch before the deal was announced.
The Financial Times describes Osborne as "metropolitan and socially liberal. He is hawkish on foreign policy with links to Washington neo-conservatives and ideologically committed to cutting the state. A pragmatic Eurosceptic". There is evidence of this commitment to cutting the state in his party's manifesto, with Osborne and the Conservatives seeking to cut the deficit "faster and deeper" than any other main party as well as committing to various tax cuts such as inheritance tax and national insurance. According to an IFS report before the 2010 election, the Conservatives needed to find more money from cuts beyond what they had outlined than any other major party, although the report was also critical of Labour and the Lib Dems. He has stated that the British economy must diversify away from London following the 2008 banking crisis, most notably in the form of the Northern Powerhouse policy proposals which aim to improve transport links and boost science and technology investment in the cities of the North to increase economic output.
Osborne is widely viewed as a potential future leader of the Conservative Party, should David Cameron stand down and trigger a leadership contest, despite being seen as a relatively unpopular figure with the general public. Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi has suggested the closeness of his relationship with David Cameron means the two effectively share power in the current government, whilst commentators point to his hand in Cabinet reshuffles. He has worked hard on rebuilding his image after the much-criticised 2012 budget.
During House of Commons debates. Michael Deacon of The Daily Telegraph has described him as "the prince of the parliamentary putdown" after he managed to taunt both Ed Balls and Norman Baker in one sentence. Osborne denied rumours that he had referred to his colleague Iain Duncan Smith as "not clever enough", which were published in Matthew d'Ancona's book In It Together.
Osborne married The Hon. Frances Victoria Howell, author and elder daughter of Lord Howell, the Conservative politician, on 4 April 1998. The couple have two children, a boy, born at Westminster on 15 June 2001, and a girl, also born in Westminster, on 27 June 2003.
Osborne is heir to his family's Irish baronetcy, of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon in County Waterford.
He has an estimated personal fortune of around £4 million, as the beneficiary of a trust fund that owns a 15 per cent stake in Osborne & Little, the wallpaper-and-fabrics company co-founded by his father, Peter Osborne.
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