Running the economy? It was child’s play compared to minding the baby AND dog!
AS CHANCELLOR he kept a tight grip on the nation’s finances before leaving politics to juggle a nine-job career portfolio.
But it seems that George Osborne – like many new parents before him – has found that coping with a baby and a playful pet dog at the same time is rather taxing.
The 50-year-old was caught in a tangle last week as he carried his six-monthold son Beau in a £160 leopard-print BabyBjorn papoose with shopping in one hand and his fox-red labrador’s lead in the other. He had popped into a newsagents in Notting Hill, West London, and emerged with a bag of newspapers before trying
His new house is barely a mile from his ex-wife’s home
to untie his dog outside while it frolicked with a passing black labrador.
The father-of-three is engaged to his former Treasury aide Thea Rogers, an executive at Deliveroo, but she was nowhere to be seen. The couple recently moved to a £5million property in one of Notting Hill’s most trendy streets, barely a mile from the £2 million home of ex-wife Frances Howell, with whom he had two children during their 21-year marriage.
With four bedrooms, a double reception room and a vast kitchen diner, Osborne is well-positioned to host well-heeled neighbours, who include Ruby Wax and the Prime Minister’s sister Rachel Johnson. The property has access to a communal garden similar to one featured in the 1999 film Notting Hill, with a romantic bench which, noted a neighbour, is ‘perfect for George and Thea to cosy up together like Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in the movie’.
It is thought that Mr Osborne
and Ms Rogers are renting the house for £15,000 a month while planning extensive renovations to their property in Somerset.
However, he should be able to cover the eye-watering bill, despite scaling back to just three lucrative jobs – a partner at investment bank Robey Warshaw; chairman of the British
Museum; and a role at the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
‘Thea works until 2am frequently,’ said a source, ‘but she loves to go to Somerset on Friday night and just collapse all weekend. The London base is for working hard and socialising.’
Mr Osborne was a member of the ‘Notting Hill Set’ of senior
political figures that included David Cameron and Michael Gove. The day after Mr Cameron quit as Prime Minister following the Brexit referendum in 2016, he and Mr Osborne were seen pondering their fate at a cafe just half a mile from the newsagents where the ex-Chancellor had his latest tussle.