Ammunition for Corbyn comes in a little gift box from Osborne

When Theresa May became Prime Minister, the first thing she did was to sack George Osborne. His life is now dedicated to making her regret it. All those headlines he concocts as editor of the London Evening Standard, revelling in her woes. That startling remark, attributed to him in a magazine, that he wouldn’t rest until the Prime Minister was “chopped up in bags in my freezer”.

And now, most extraordinary of all, the one thing no one thought Mr Osborne would ever do: he’s praised the last Labour government for its handling of the financial crisis.

Speaking at an event hosted by The Spectator, Mr Osborne graciously absolved Gordon Brown of blame for “the subprime [mortgage] crisis in America”, and congratulated Labour on doing “what was necessary in a very difficult situation”. At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday – as Mr Osborne must have known he would – Jeremy Corbyn quoted his comments with glee.

When in office, of course, this same George Osborne used to blame Labour for the crisis all the time. But Mr Corbyn didn’t mention that. After all, he wasn’t here to undermine Mr Osborne. He was here to undermine Mrs May. And Mr Osborne had given him all the ammunition he needed.

Helplessly, Mrs May spluttered that the Tories were still having to “deal with Labour’s great recession”, but it sounded feeble, given that the last Tory Chancellor had just been quoted as saying the recession wasn’t really Labour’s at all.

I wonder what Mr Osborne will say to help her out next: “You know, some people in my party like to score cheap points by knocking Labour. That’s never been my way. On top of their superb record in government, which included their impeccable handling of the financial crisis, they have an enviable talent for picking leaders. Calm, steady Gordon Brown. Popular, charismatic Ed Miliband. And now the finest of them all, Jeremy Corbyn.

“Not only is Jeremy a proud British patriot who has always stood up fearlessly to the IRA, Hamas and Hizbollah, he’s also a safe pair of hands for the economy.

“He really is tremendously strong and stable. And you can’t say that about every political leader, can you?”

Slumped on their benches in the Commons, Tory MPS looked thoroughly depressed. The Prime Minister was taking a pasting.

“Will she now pause Universal Credit?” demanded Mr Corbyn.

“Yes,” replied Mrs May. This was a slip. She’d meant to say, “No.” Labour MPS hooted fit to burst.

It was a miserable sight for any Conservative. Well, except perhaps for one.