George Osborne facing calls to quit as MP over Evening Standard job

George Osborne is coming under growing pressure to step down as Conservative MP for Tatton in Cheshire, after his surprise appointment as the editor of the London Evening Standard.

Evgeny Lebedev, the owner of the paper, announced the news on Twitter on Friday, saying he was “thrilled” and describing the former chancellor as “London through and through”. Osborne said he intended to remain as an MP.

But some Conservatives questioned whether Osborne could represent his constituents effectively while editing a daily paper on top of a string of lucrative jobs. Others accused him of seeking to undermine Theresa May.

One party source said MPs would be contacting their whips to express dismay. The chief whip, Gavin Williamson, is likely to face pressure on Monday to make an example of Osborne.

Nigel Adams, the Tory MP for Selby and Ainsty, said Osborne should consult his constituents over whether he could continue as an MP. “It is one thing writing a column for a newspaper, it is another being its full-time editor,” he told the Guardian.

Downing Street was said to be “very surprised” by the announcement on Friday morning, which overshadowed a speech by the prime minister at the Conservative spring conference. Osborne stressed that he would not hold back from attacking the government on behalf of London, in a move that MPs described as blatantly disloyal.

His fellow Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg echoed a suggestion from at least one government minister that Osborne had his eyes on the capital’s city hall in the long term. “I think he must want to be mayor of London and is modelling himself on Boris [Johnson],” he said.

A number of other Conservative MPs, who declined to be named, expressed disquiet and anger about the appointment, some using WhatsApp groups to share their surprise. One unnamed MP said: “There is one purpose and one purpose only, to get back at Theresa May.”

Osborne is already paid £650,000 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 thinktank and has a book deal on top of his £75,000 MP’s salary. He will take up his editorship in mid-May.

In a statement, the former chancellor – who has no significant journalistic experience – said: “I was elected by my constituents in Tatton to serve them and I intend to fulfil that promise.”

But Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, described the appointment as “a joke” and “yet another example of the establishment revolving door, a closely knit clique who are holding back the British people … [it] is an insult to the electors he is supposed to serve. We are looking forward to an early byelection so the people of Tatton are properly served in parliament.”

Osborne’s appointment will be vetted by the advisory committee on business appointments (Acoba), which assesses any private paid roles taken by former ministers and civil servants in fields they previously regulated in government.

Clive Lewis, the former shadow cabinet minister, said he had written to Acoba about potential conflicts of interest, and said there was a serious concern that Osborne had not waited for the committee’s decision before the post was announced. Lewis said Osborne had shown “total contempt” for the rules. Labour sources also said the party would table questions to each department to identify how much the government spent on advertising with the Standard.

Some Tories defended Osborne, saying he was more than capable of doing both jobs. “MPs have historically had outside jobs,” said James Duddridge, MP for Rochford and Southend East. “If he can combine being an MP with running the economy he should manage editing a local paper.”

Speaking to Lebedev-owned TV channel London Live, Osborne said the role was compatible with his duties as an MP. “Of course this paper is edited primarily in the morning, parliament votes in the afternoon,” he said. He will edit the daily paper on average four days a week, the Standard said.

The former chancellor described his new job as a “huge honour”, adding that as the paper’s editor, “our only interest will be to give a voice to all Londoners”.

He added: “We will be fearless as a paper fighting for their interests. We will judge what the government, London’s politicians and the political parties do against this simple test: is it good for our readers and good for London? If it is, we’ll support them. If it isn’t, we’ll be quick to say so.”

Alexander Lebedev, the oligarch and former KGB officer who jointly owns the paper with his son Evgeny, told the Guardian that Osborne would be “good for the paper, for Londoners and for free media”. Asked if the new editor faced a potential conflict of interest as a sitting MP, he said: “He is a clever one to deal with this.”

Addressing Standard staff shortly after noon on Friday, Osborne told them he would need their help: “I may have run a country, but I’ve never run a newspaper.”

Staff greeted the appointment with a mixture of “shock, incredulity and hilarity”, according to an insider. “It’s slowly sinking in, the madness of it all.” Another said Osborne’s expectation that he could do the job and be an MP “just shows the contempt he has for the newspaper, that he thinks being an editor is a part-time basis, that’s the real scandal”.

The newspaper said its publication schedule would “enable Mr Osborne to edit the paper and continue to fulfil his other commitments, including as an MP; giving him the time to vote and contribute in parliament in the afternoon after the paper has gone to print, and be in his constituency.”

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, congratulated Osborne on his new job, tweeting:

Patti Goddard, president of the Tatton Conservative Association, said Osborne had their full support. “He’s a hardworking constituency MP … The fact he’s editing the Evening Standard in the weekday mornings won’t affect that at all – after all, being chancellor was a 24/7 job.”

But Carla Flynn, editor of the Knutsford Guardian, Osborne’s constituency local paper, described the appointment as a “huge shock”. “Since he lost his position as chancellor, constituents thought they would be seeing more of their MP but this hasn’t been the case, and we’ve received an increasing number of letters questioning George’s commitment to Tatton. Given the huge reaction we’ve already had from readers today ... I think this will be the final straw for a lot of constituents.”

Osborne takes over the role from Sarah Sands, who has been appointed the new editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

As a young graduate, Osborne hoped to pursue a career in journalism, but he failed to get a place on the Times’s trainee scheme in 1993 and briefly freelanced for the Daily Telegraph’s Peterborough diary column before becoming a researcher at Conservative central office.

Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, captured some of the widespread incredulity about Osborne’s new job, tweeting: “Breaking: I will shortly be announced as editor of Heat magazine.”

Osborne’s jobs and potential conflicts

£75,000 a year as MP for Tatton
Osborne will face conflicting loyalties to his constituents, who elected him on a Conservative manifesto to follow the party whip in the House of Commons, and to his readers, overseeing supposedly balanced news coverage holding the government to account – including over decisions he made while chancellor.

£640,000 as an adviser to BlackRock
The advisory job at the world’s biggest investment fund throws up a potential conflict of interest with Osborne’s oversight of the Evening Standard’s business coverage of BlackRock, all the companies in which it is invested and its competitors.

£800,000 for 15 speaking engagements in the last year – including from City and Wall Street banks. Again, this creates the possibility of conflicts with the Evening Standard’s business coverage with financial institutions among Osborne’s past and potential future clients.

£120,212 allowance as Kissinger fellow at the McCain Institute for a year
This raises the issue of a conflict between the supposedly objective role of journalist and his activities as a political commentator with a platform to broadcast his personal world view.

Unpaid chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership
Osborne’s heart was meant to be in championing economic growth in the north, but his newspaper will be expected to speak for the interests of Londoners.

Privy council membership
As a member of the privy council, Osborne has privileged access to confidential briefings, conflicting with his obligation as a supposed journalist to publish information in the public interest. Rowena Mason