George Osborne: I would have voted to save Boris Johnson
14 June 2022, 19:52 | Updated: 14 June 2022, 19:55
Osborne says he would have voted for Boris Johnson to remain in office
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer confirms he would have given Boris Johnson a vote of confidence in his recent fight for survival as Conservative leader.
Andrew Marr was joined by George Osborne in an intimate and wide-ranging interview on Tonight on Tuesday.
The Chairman of the British Museum and former Chancellor shared his thought process behind backing the remain campaign and Britain's austerity measures in the 00's, among other things.
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Andrew Marr asked Mr Osborne about the Prime Minister's struggle to manage expectations in his own party, after recently coming out of a confidence vote with a meagre 59% support rate.
"The person who most wants to be prime minister within the parliamentary Conservative party is Boris Johnson." Mr Osborne declared.
"Until that changes, he's going to stay the Prime Minister."
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Mr Osborne went on, stating that there's currently nobody with "determinate ruthlessness" to take him down in the House of Commons.
"If you had a vote, would you have voted to keep him or not?" Andrew asked.
The former Chancellor hesitated. "I probably would have voted for him", he then confirmed, telling LBC listeners that he enjoys "a pretty good relationship" with the Prime Minister.
Andrew went on to ask whether Mr Osborne saw Rishi Sunak as "a plausible alternative?"
"He's been flushed down the drainpipe and has to climb back up again", Mr Osborne quipped, going on to tip Liz Truss for Number 10 as well.
"Unless someone wants to topple Boris Johnson, they're going to be fighting potentially over who's going to be leading the opposition."
