But where IS George?
As economy reels, he only breaks silence to congratulate Minister who came out as gay
HIS chances of becoming Prime Minister vanished with the referendum defeat – and George Osborne appeared to have disappeared with them last night.
The Chancellor has not been seen in public since the shock result, remaining out of sight even when his Cabinet colleague and Downing Street neighbour David Cameron resigned.
His absence at a time of great political and economic uncertainty has been widely commented on, with some internet pranksters making fake ‘missing person’ alerts for him. One image on Twitter, shared by more than 2,000 people, showed a photo of Mr Osborne with the caption: ‘MISSING – George is 45 and hasn’t been seen since Thursday when he was separated from his friends. Please help.’
A satirical website called News Thump published an article that joked: ‘George, 45, has not been seen since he got into a ministerial car on Thursday evening and friends say him not magically appearing in a high-vis jacket when a TV camera appears is “completely out of character”.’
Mr Osborne did surface briefly online yesterday – but only to congratulate International Development Secretary Justine Greening on her decision to come out as gay. He replied to her message on Twitter: ‘Congrats Justine. Best news in last 48 hours!’
The Mail on Sunday understands that Mr Osborne decided to avoid the public eye after the vote as he believed the public had seen enough of him during the long and bitter campaign. He had been hard at work on Friday as markets were plunged into turmoil, keeping in close contact with Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
And he is expected to reappear tomorrow, giving his first interview since the referendum on television.