For years the pair were at war with each other at the despatch box, but finally the former chancellor and shadow chancellor have found political agreement.
George Osborne and Ed Balls were appearing on Robert Rinder’s Good Year, Bad Year due to be aired on Channel 4.
When asked whether Brexit was really going to happen, George Osborne simply responded ‘f*ck knows’, laughing off the political turmoil his government had unleashed.
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Rinder then turned to the former shadow chancellor asking: ‘Ed any other more eloquent answer, than the former shadow chancellor?’
https://twitter.com/Channel4/status/1077998982767542275
‘Ask George,’ Balls replied.
Osborne continued: ‘It’s in play, it’s really in play. If we’d have done this show a year ago, I think people would have said ‘Brexit is a certainty’ I think the truth is, it’s definitely more in the balance now.’
Rinder then turns to Balls to ask the biggest problems facing the country ahead of March.
He said: ‘I think the question is are we going to end the uncertainty which has been so problematic for business over the last couple of years or is that uncertainty going to go on for years and years?’
But Rinder was not willing to allow Osborne off the hook. It was his party in government that legislated for the EU referendum.
He said: ‘I’d supposed you’d really want your thoughtful strategic politicians to have a view on it. I mean you said fuck knows, but wasn’t it all your idea?’
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As the audience cheered on the host, the former chancellor insisted he was against the idea.
Rinder continued: ‘Everyone kind of knows that you were really suggesting to Mr Cameron that this wasn’t a good idea, do you text him every day and if so, do you use emojis?’
But Osborne, now the editor of the Evening Standard amongst nine other jobs, appeared to now toe the Conservative party line.
‘Yeah we’ve had a few discussions and reflections, and you know in the end, the British people made the decision. People in this audience, people watching at home. That is what the country voted for and we’ll see what happens.’
Balls, however, was more pensive about the issue and sounded more unsure about the conclusion.
He said: ‘I think that the Conservative Party does not want a general election if they could avoid it. I think people are really scared of no deal, but it’s really hard to find a way forward which gets a majority in Parliament and so that just ends up with crunch and confusion and uncertainty and it’s not clear how that’s going to be resolved, so you know, as George said, fuck knows.’
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Osborne joked: ‘There you go, there’s agreement, after all these years!’
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