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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think George Osborne swanning around in the Royal Box at Wimbledon is wrong?

139 replies

LilyBolero · 30/06/2011 09:25

George Osborne had prime seats in the Royal Box on Centre Court at Wimbledon yesterday, for the Federer/Tsonga match, and the Murray/Lopez match.

This REALLY annoys me. On the day when the Greeks were taking a critical decision, with riots in Athens, and implications for the whole world economy our hirsute Chancellor took the afternoon off.

On the day before hundreds of thousands of workers feel compelled to strike in protest at the prospect of a much grimmer future (whatever the rights or wrongs of that, this isn't a debate about strikes), our Chancellor took the afternoon off.

At a time when we are told ad nauseam that 'We are all in this together', the Chancellor took the afternoon off and went to the best seats at Wimbledon (incidentally, do they have to pay for those seats?).

MPs currently get very generous holidays. I don't suppose a teacher would be able to take the afternoon off to go to Wimbledon (in fact I have friends who have requested this and were given very short shrift). To those who say 'teachers get very good holidays and benefits, they knew about the fixed dates before they went into teaching' I would say 'MPs get very good holidays and benefits, they knew about the fixed dates before they went into politics'.

We pay the Chancellor's salary. I think he should be accountable.

OP posts:
Original poster
LilyBolero · 30/06/2011 10:57

Last year 'Call Me Dave' said he couldn't go because it would 'look bad'. Hmm

Still looks bad now.

I don't have a problem with rich people spending their money. I do have a problem with him making decisions that REALLY hurt people who are not so well off, and then him saying 'We're all in this together' as he swans off to Wimbledon when he should be in the office, or off to Klosters when the economical news in Britain is so bad.

OP posts:
paddypoopants · 30/06/2011 10:59

If poor Sam Cam had to go on a bargain break to Ibiza for her 40th birthday just to show how we're all in it together surely GO could have at least sat on Murray Mount or whatever it's called rather than the Royal Box. He might've got pelted with strawberries however. I'm sure he has decided it doesn't really matter what he does- he couldn't get anymore unpopular.

BecauseImWorthIt · 30/06/2011 11:00

What irritates me (apart from him simply being George Osborne) is that he was sitting in the Royal box. Why?

petitepeach · 30/06/2011 11:02

YABU why think you should be there instead?? Don't you ever have a day off then?
He is not out of the country as mentioned.......why do people use the phrase ' we pay their wages' as if this means they should be on duty 24/7, so should teachers/NHS/ all of the bloody civil service be on 24/7 hour duty too?Confused
People are different; some work harder/have better business sense/good at networking/earn heaps of money/get to see Murray play tennis....get over it!Grin

CogitoErgoSometimes · 30/06/2011 11:05

YAstillBU... George Osborne doesn't run Greece. I'm sure he's kept fully up to speed by aides even when he's not actually 'in the office'.. mobile phones, you know. Marvellous things.

Badgerwife · 30/06/2011 11:10

I totally see what you're saying, and yeah, the royal box thing is annoying, but if I could afford it I probably would want to splash out. Yes he is a patronising twat. But if MPs had to wait until everything in the world was sorted to take a day off, they'd never leave the office. What the hell do we know about how he spends his days? As long as it's taken out of his annual leave, I don't see how we can moan about what he does with his day. The Greek situation isn't going to go either way whether he was in the office yesterday afternoon or not. And I think paddypoopants might have it in one, he couldn't get more unpopular so why should he care, there's always someone who'll be unhappy.

Chen23 · 30/06/2011 11:10

The soon to be Baron Gideon is independently (extremely) wealthy due to his aristo family

He's also in charge of the countries finances after having had done no job in the real world outside of data entry for the NHS and folding towels in Selfridges.

I find him pretty repellent tbh, private eye have got him pegged

www.private-eye.co.uk/covers.php?showme=1273

www.private-eye.co.uk/covers.php?showme=1279

Quenelle · 30/06/2011 11:21

Of course he doesn't spend his own hard-earned money to go in the royal box, he would have been there by invitation.

The fact that he's in the royal box highlights what a privileged person he is, and how different life is for him to how it is for the people whose taxes he spends. I'm not jealous, I just hate hearing 'We're all in this together.' and then seeing this.

SunRaysthruClouds · 30/06/2011 11:30

I guess he had just ticked everything off on his 'to do' list and shock horror, took a little time to relax.

OP YABU and you other lot need to get a life.

(In fact so do I - must stop looking at MN)

Chen23 · 30/06/2011 11:32

SunRaysthruClouds somehow I manage to combine MN and a life

you should give it a go, it's really not that hard

SunRaysthruClouds · 30/06/2011 11:41

chen - I know but sometimes looking at strange views of the world on MN seems that much better than doing other normal things, like work. I mean I bet George doesn't post on MN unless he is really Anyfucker and had us completely fooled.

But it is hard to take some comments seriously when they are supplemented with or only consist of statements about what a rich git he is.

Callisto · 30/06/2011 11:41

You are being so unreasonable I think this must be a piss take. I don't give a shit if he is never in his office as long as he does a good job with the budget etc. He can't do worse that Gordon Brown who allegedly worked 24/7 Hmm. And as for him not being allowed a day off because of the Greek vote - we are not involved in any way in the bail-out that will follow so he has no real vested interest in it anyway.

Callisto · 30/06/2011 11:44

OP you do appear to have a massive chip on your shoulder about the relative wealth of the Tory cabinet.

Chen23 · 30/06/2011 11:53

"I don't give a shit if he is never in his office as long as he does a good job with the budget etc."

I think the point is that many people don't think he's doing a good job.

"He can't do worse that Gordon Brown who allegedly worked 24/7 ."

So we're not allowed to comment as long as he isn't quite as badly as Gordon Brown? We're in the middle of an enormous global financial crisis, I think we should be setting the bar a teensy bit higher than that.

"And as for him not being allowed a day off because of the Greek vote - we are not involved in any way in the bail-out that will follow so he has no real vested interest in it anyway."

Yes, the UK has approx £8 billion pound exposure to greek debt and this crisis is massively important to the future of Eurozone, which is our biggest trading partner and a key component of the global economy. So we apparently have no vested interest in any of this, why should our chancellor concern himself with such trivialities?

I have no real issue with him going to Wimbledon, he'd have to go some way to lower my opinion of him; a day trip to the royal box doesn't impact on his ability (or lack thereof) to do his job but he should be aware it wasn't the best PR move to make at this precise moment.

Scuttlebutter · 30/06/2011 11:55

OP, YABU. If he'd taken the afternoon off to spend it on his allotment, I doubt you'd be so artificially outraged. Lots of politicians go to Wimbledon every year. I have no problem with him taking the afternoon off or spending it in doing something enjoyable. Perhaps his hair shirt was at the dry cleaners.

Insomnia11 · 30/06/2011 11:57

George Osborne is just all kinds of wrong, period. Angry

Georgimama · 30/06/2011 11:59

I would imagine he was invited and so attended? Royal invitations are not things Ministers of the Crown are in a position to turn down, really. WRT the Greek situation, he isn't a member of the Greek parliament so didn't actually have the ability to vote, he has Ministers of State and countless civil servants to keep things in the office ticking over, and he has been involved in extensive discussions at a European level about Greece in recent weeks. I'm sure he knew what was going on and could have been in a ministerial car on the phone to anyone in the world within about 90 seconds if required.

His personal wealth, much of which is the result of an accident of birth, is completely irrelevant. It's the same sort of argument trotted out about David Cameron attending Eton. I doubt he paid the fees out of his paper round.

ilovetomatoes · 30/06/2011 12:00

YADNBU. It really just sums up his arrogance that he thinks he can chill out with his aristocratic mates during one of the most crucial weeks ever for the world economy. I expect his advisors told him it was a bad move but he went anyway.

Abra1d · 30/06/2011 12:03

Ministers used to take the whole summer off not so very long ago. One afternoon at Wimbledon--so what? He's less than an hour away from Westminster if there were a huge problem and modern communications hardly make it hard for him to be contacted. A rested brain is a better-working brain.

My husband is currently out of work. I am facing financial problems as a result of slow payment. I can't see I'd feel any better if GO had stayed in the Chancellory.

Callisto · 30/06/2011 12:06

Chen - I think you are overthinking my post and possibly mis-reading it. Of course I don't think he should be doing just a little better than GB, it was for comparison to highlight that skiving off for a day does not mean one is incompetant or unable to do the job. I think he is ok, the consensus in the MN bubble is he is shite - but then this forum is dominated by Labour voters and does not generally reflect the views of the country as a whole.

As for Greece - of course it is important, but I fail to see why he should be hanging on his EU Hotline Phone in his office waiting with baited breath for the decision of the Greek govt on austerity measures. We are not actively involved this time - we are not giving Greece any more money. As for PR - on MN he can do no right anyway so it would be a waste of time.

Peachy · 30/06/2011 12:07

LilyBolero I agree, timing is appalling.

Original poster
LilyBolero · 30/06/2011 12:07

I don't have a chip on my shoulder. I do resent the 'We're all in this together but I'm off to the Royal Box at Wimbledon this morning, while I make life a LOT harder for all of you'.

Either he takes the 'We're all in this together' line and forgoes certain pleasures (even if he can afford them), or he says 'This is shit for lots of people, I am very wealthy, and that is why I can afford these things'. He can't pretend that he is 'in it' as much as someone already struggling who is having yet more taken, and then appear up in the Royal Box.

A lot of politics is about how you present things. And if you want to enforce an age of austerity, I think you do have to think how you present your own life.

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Peachy · 30/06/2011 12:09

Is also really quite a media own goal, no?

The state line is panic; if we don;t do X Y and Z, affect the vulnerable as well as the not, etc etc all will collapse for everybody- oh woe!

And then on an essential day he is able to take time off.

Most employed people cannot take time off when things are busy; dh always ahd December barred as his company had a hamper contract for example.

It's not ahrd for people to ask if he is Ok to have a day off then is it really that bad.

Own goal.

Callisto · 30/06/2011 12:10

He's really rich. You're not. Get over it.

We need to pay more for less for longer. As long as he runs the economy well who cares how much personal wealth he has? I assume that if he had to live of a ministerial salary and had no personal wealth that you would have no problem with him going off on as many jollies as he likes?

Original poster
LilyBolero · 30/06/2011 12:10

Abra, sympathies, we were in your situation 2yrs ago, it's rough isn't it.

As far as feeling better whether or not GO is at Wimbledon - no, of course you wouldn't. However just think about him making your two situations comparable with his 'We're all in this together', and then think about how inappropriate that statement is when he goes off to the Royal Box.

I really don't have a problem with him going to Wimbledon, or anyone, but it's the crassness, and also I do feel that as they trot out Greece everytime anyone questions their economic policy, perhaps he should have been interested enough in their decision (which really does have huge implications for us) to stay in the office. It's not like it was his only chance to ever go to WImbledon!

OP posts: