George Osborne to stand down as MP ‘for now’

George Osborne, the former British 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 newspaper and other lucrative roles outside the House of Commons.

Following 24 hours of speculation about his future, he told the Evening Standard he was quitting 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.

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“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.”

His decision to quit will be a relief for Theresa May, who sacked him as chancellor when she took over last July. Mr Osborne had indicated he was prepared to fight against a hard Brexit taking the UK out of the single market from the backbenches.

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 London newspaper. Labour raised concerns about the potential conflict of interest between his job as a Tory MP and publishing objective news coverage for readers.

Highest earner

Some of his constituents also opposed the idea of having a part-time MP who was editing a London newspaper and four other roles, which collectively made him the highest-earning member of the House of Commons.

Since becoming a backbencher, he declared new employment paying £650,000 (€780,000) a year for one day’s work a week for 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 think tank 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.

But explaining his decision to stand down, Mr Osborne told the Evening 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.”

Guardian service