George Osborne, the former chancellor, has said he is stepping down as an MP “for now” following his decision to take a job as editor of the Evening Standard and other lucrative roles outside the House of Commons.
After 24 hours of speculation about his future, he told the Standard he was quitting the Commons but hinted he would want to return to frontline politics in future.
“I am stepping down from the House of Commons – for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our country’s future and on the issues I care about, like the success of the northern powerhouse,” he said.
“I want a Britain that is free, open, diverse and works with other nations to defend our democratic values in the world. I will go on fighting for that Britain I love from the editor’s chair of a great newspaper. It’s still too early to be writing my memoirs.”
In perhaps the first sign that a man with no previous experience of journalism has much to learn in his new gig running the London daily, he gave his new team the scoop just a little too late for it to be published in anything other than a specially produced slip edition.
The veteran political editor Joe Murphy launched the exclusive with a tweet before lunch, but after the day’s paper had been printed.
Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon)George Osborne reveals he will step down as MP at the election. Story on @EveningStandard online now
April 19, 2017
The outgoing editor, Sarah Sands, an old newspaper hand about to turn radio boss, quickly ordered an extra slip edition, seen by relatively few commuters on Wednesday.
Osborne’s decision to quit will be a relief for Theresa May, who sacked him as chancellor when she took over last July. Osborne had indicated he was prepared to fight from the backbenches against a hard Brexit taking the UK out of the single market.
He has been under pressure from some Conservative colleagues and the opposition to go since he was revealed as the surprise choice to edit the Standard. Labour raised concerns about the potential conflict of interest arising out of holding both the media role and his job as a Tory MP.
Some of his constituents also opposed the idea of having an MP who was also editing a London newspaper and performing four other roles, which collectively made him the highest-earning member of the Commons.
After becoming a backbencher, Osborne declared new employment paying £650,000 a year for one day’s work a week for the fund manager BlackRock. He has earned £800,000 for 15 speaking engagements in the last year, collects a £120,000 a year stipend from a US thinktank and has a book deal on top of the £75,000 MP’s salary. He will take up his editorship in mid-May.
Almost 200,000 people had signed a petition started by one of his constituents urging him to “pick a job”.
He had previously defended the decision to take on all the jobs, saying parliament would be “enhanced” by his experience of outside work.
Explaining his decision to stand down, Osborne told the Standard: “At the age of 45, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just being an ex-chancellor. I want new challenges. I’m very excited about the opportunity to edit the Evening Standard. I’ve met the team there, and their energy and commitment to this great newspaper are positively infectious.”
He promised his editorship would give the public “straight facts and informed opinion to help them to make the big decisions Britain now faces about the kind of country we want to be. That starts with the coverage of this general election.”