Revealed: the face of Tory Britain

Photo: Rex Features

If you're not familiar with the UK, you may be wondering who this man is.

A newly cast "Dracula"? A villain in a forthcoming Bond film?

No, it's George Osborne, one of the faces of the new "compassionate conservatism" and the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent to Finance Minister).

A recent Guardian newspaper article ran this photo with a story on an analysis of the UK Government's austerity measures carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a well respected and independent non-profit research institution. They have shown that despite the Con-Dem coalition's best claims of fairness, the welfare cuts mean working families on the lowest incomes – particularly those with children – are the biggest losers. This amounts to the poorest 10% of families losing over 5% of their income as a result of the budget compared with a loss of less than 1% for non-pensioner households without children in the richest 10% of households.


No one with any sense doubted for a second Tory promises to be the new "champions of the poor." What is galling, for fools such as myself who voted for the Libdems in May, is Nick Clegg and co's propping up of Tory policy that would have had Margaret Thatcher twirling her handbag in joy.