Ex-Chancellor George Osborne has put the new PM on warning that he still fancies her job
The now backbencher has delivered a startlingly blunt assessment of Theresa May's two months in No10
GEORGE Osborne has put Theresa May on warning that he still fancies her job and will speak out against her if she takes the Tories too far to the right.
In his first interview since being sacked by the new PM, the former Chancellor delivered a startlingly blunt assessment of her two months in No10 so far.
He insisted cuttingly that she was only the best choice for No10 "from the candidates who put themselves forward" - rather than others like him who didn't.
He also told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that he will “champion the things I always care about” from the Tory backbenches.
And he pledged to be the “voice for the liberal mainstream of the country".
Laying down the gauntlet, the former Tory chief insisted most Brits "do not want to be governed from the extremes, want Britain to be internationalist, outward looking, free trading, and want a socially just society".
Sending out a clear signal that he still wants to be PM one day, Mr Osborne revealed: "I don't want to write my memoirs because I don't know how the story ends.
“I want to stay around and find out”.
The declaration led to Westminster watchers swiftly comparing Mr Osborne to Michael Heseltine, who stalked Margaret Thatcher as a rival leader in waiting throughout her Premiership.
But he insisted it was “genuinely not true” that the pair had a bitter rivalry, and he revealed he voted for Mrs May in the Tory leadership contest – instead of former close pal Michael Gove – “because she was absolutely the best person for the job".
The passionate Remain campaigner also made it clear that one of his biggest stands will come on trying to keep close to the EU after Brexit.
He added: "One of the things I'll be arguing for is the closest possible free trading relationship".
But Mr Osborne also admitted badly misjudging “the national mood” during the EU referendum fight.
In a major concession, the ex-Treasury boss said he failed to understand the “alienation” people felt from Brussels.
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And he and ex-PM David Cameron failed to do enough to address voters’ fears over economic insecurity, the 45-year-old MP confessed.
Mr Osborne also said “I hope I'm wrong” on his Project Fear dark economic warnings about what would happen under Brexit.
But he insisted: “They were all made in good faith”.
On Mrs May’s flagship new policy on grammar schools, Mr Osborne would also lukewarm – saying he did not oppose the idea of new ones opening in areas they are wanted but criticised too much focus on them.
He explained: “I'm all for elements of selection.
“But I think the real focus of education reform remains the academy programme transforming the comprehensive schools that most people in this country send their children to."
Mr Osborne also issued a direct attack on Mrs May for having “a little bit of a wobble” over his two year-old Northern Powerhouse vision.
Mr Osborne ended his two month silence to launch a new think tank today – the Northern Powerhouse Partnership – to push his dream to link up and boost the north’s five big cities.
In an article for The Sun, he has also warned sceptical Mrs May not to try derail his plans, branding the concept “here to stay”.
Mr Osborne won support from a series of major Labour politicians for it, and was flanked at its launch by the party’s Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese and Liverpool’s mayor Joe Anderson.
Shadow home secretary and Manchester mayor candidate Andy Burnham also dubbed Mr Osborne’s intervention as “extremely helpful”.
Mr Burnham added: “He knows how wrong it would be for the Tory party to have made promises to the north in advance of an election to abandon them shortly after.
Former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg will also act as an advisor, Mr Osborne revealed.