Robert Chote, the former FT economics editor and head of the IFS, has been chosen to salvage the reputation of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
No one can question George Osborne’s willingness to appoint someone with a impeccable track record of annoying chancellors.
While at the FT, Chote’s reporting upset Gordon Brown so much that the then chancellor’s team effectively refused to deal with him.
And recently, Chote’s job application for the OBR was quickly followed by a withering IFS report slamming Osborne’s claims that the emergency Budget was progressive.
The appointment also bring a bit of colour to government economics. Chote is renowned for a dazzlingly bright cupboard of purple suits and electric blue suits. At least the Treasury will see him coming.
UPDATE Guido makes the point that Chote will be once again working with Rupert Harrison, the chancellor’s closest adviser and veteran of the IFS. But Chote never hired Harrison — it was Andrew Dilnot, the head of the IFS until 2002. Other IFS alumni in government include Steve Webb, the Lib Dem pensions minister, who at the IFS was quite an ardent means tester of benefits.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey