The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Introducing the real George Osborne, urban street dancer

"George, you can't jazz tap your way to Number 10."

By Jon Bernstein Published 22 November 2011 10:59

Hello and Hi. George Osborne here. For those of you who've been living in a cave since May 2010, I'm Lord Chancellor (of the exchequer). By the way if you have been living in a cave I'm pretty certain you're breaking the law and it's only a matter of time til enforcement officers move you on.

I'm proud to tell you that I'm currently the thirteenth most recognizable member of the Coalition Government (I'd be twelfth if John Culshaw's Baroness Wasri impersonation hadn't briefly trended on YouTube) and I live at number eleven downing street.

And so begins The Real George Osborne, which naturally isn't the real George Osborne but a spoof created on behalf of anti-poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement, and designed to raise awareness of the damaging effects of food speculation ahead of a European Union vote in 2012.

The Real George Osborne nods towards the Thick of It but with some absurdist touches thrown in for good measure. At one point advisor Vicki tells the (not real) Chancellor en route to his urban street dance lesson: "George, you can't jazz tap your way to Number 10."

Osborne is played Rufus Jones, who recently starred as Terry Jones in BBC Four's Holy Flying Circus. The 14 mini episodes, created by Hoot Comedy, will run four times weekly between now and Christmas.

Tags: George Osborne

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4 comments

Tue, 2011-11-22 11:02 — swatantra nandanwar

Maybe George should ask for a share of the royalties, or tax them at any rate.

Tue, 2011-11-22 11:22 — Ben Bond (not verified)

This series is hilarious! And not just because I wrote it... I urge you to watch it and send it to your colleagues!

Thu, 2011-11-24 16:13 — Eddy Richards (not verified)

It gets better - I thought the first episode was a bit weak and was trying too hard to be strange - but the next two are quite funny.

I suspect this is largely because I don't have any idea about Osborne's real character, so it's harder to spot the spoofs and exaggerations - a similar thing about Boris, for example, whose public persona is much more well known, would have been more immediately funny because the viewer would be able to make a connection. Harder with the largely anonymous George.