All the details are on today's ConservativeHome frontpage but there is some confusion about yesterday's seemingly get-tough message from George Osborne on public sector pay. The FT leads its morning edition with the story - headlining 'Tories take risk over...

The gods are smiling on George Osborne. On Monday, he wrote an excellent article in the FT, explaining why he opposed the government’s fiscal plans and giving a brief sketch of his alternative vision. It was a short, sharp, shock article that contrasted with the tentative and nebulous announcements that characterised the Tory post-New Year slump. They were immediate benefits. On Tuesday, the...

The thin strip of clear blue water between the Government and Opposition's positions on public spending is steadily widening. On this morning's Today programme, George Osborne's statement that "the age of excess" in public sector pay is over is another...

Shadow chancellor attacks government spending plans as children's secretary says choice for voters at the election will be Labour investment versus Tory cuts The row about the public finances intensified today as George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, accused Labour of being "dishonest" about public spending after the election. In an article in the Times, Osborne said that Brown's claim ...

Spending cuts alone will not be enough to rebalance the public finances George Osborne said yesterday paving the way for a Tory government to raise taxes.

There's a great deal of rumbling on the Westminster grapevine about George Osborne's position in the Tory party.  The FT set the ball a-rolling yesterday, with an article on the "dinner table" ire aimed at the Shadow Chancellor.  It contained a juicy quote from a Tory MP, claiming that Osborne "was a good chancellor for the good times – now he’s ...

George Osborne must have changed breakfast cereals, or something, because he's suddenly a different man.  After the Tories muddied their economic message to the point of abstraction a few weeks ago, there's now a new clarity and directness about the shadow chancellor's languange.  Exhibit A was his article in the FT last week.  And Exhibit B comes in the form of his a...

Ian Pearson MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, responding to the reports in the Evening Standard and today's Guardian about George Osborne's position, said: "If David Cameron thinks George Osborne is not fit to run the Tory party, what makes him think he's fit to run the British economy? "George Osborne's economic judgement has been wrong at every turn, from opposing the a...

The Tory economic policy is really beginning to annoy me. George Osborne has written an incredibly smug article in today’s (supposedly left-wing) Indy which trots out more guff. 1) The Germans may not be happy about our spending plans, but they’re pretty much alone in Europe on this. Even the (right-wing!) Sarkozy and Bush governments want

Where will the growth come from? That is the question the Tories are setting out to answer today when George Osborne proclaims what he will call "a new economic model for Britain". Business investment and savings must, he says, replace debt as the foundation for prosperity. Osborne will set out eight benchmarks which, he claims, will allow people to assess Tory progress in government towards this ...