‘Ooo am I the first? You’re a t***’: Osborne joins Twitter
George Osborne joined Twitter today and was met by a predictable barrage of abuse and cruel jokes.
The chancellor picked Budget day to join the social media site, tweeting a picture of him working by the classic red briefcase.
"Today I'll present a Budget that tackles the economy's problems head on helping those who want to work hard & get on," he wrote.
User @davidwearing quickly replied: "Worst chancellor ever. Quite a place in history. Will you resign this afternoon? Why not?"
@RoyalBlueStuey wrote: "Change direction you arrogant pig-headed idiot….it's your hubris holding us back. You've lost the argument, it's failed."
@sazza_jay summed up the attitude of many Twitter towards politicians who join the site, when she wrote: "Ooo am I the first? You're a t***.
"Are you really a lizard? Is that why you can't even use a calculator?" she added.
@james_blue_cat branded the chancellor a superhero villain in a message which asked: "HELLO WHAT IS YOUR WORST ENCOUNTER EVER WITH SPIDER-MAN?"
Deputy Labour party chair Tom Watson jumped on early to suggest the chancellor sack the party's chairman.
"You're posing for a twitpic? Here's my one piece of advice: sack Shapps. (Google twitpic, you'll thank me later)," he wrote.
The decision to join Twitter is an unusual one for a chancellor often referred to as "submarine" in Whitehall for his ability to stay below the surface while colleagues face the publicity.
But with his reputation at an all-time low and even friendly newspapers calling on him to be replaced, Osborne may feel he needs more of a public impact to remain secure in his post.
