Britain's foreign policy: An interview with George Osborne

Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer talks China, globalisation, the EU and his country's place in the world with our Bagehot columnist

THIS week my column covers George Osborne’s trip to China and his attempts to make Britain the country's “best partner in the West”. Relations between the two have recovered since David Cameron’s 2012 meeting with the Dalai Lama—and no British politician is more closely associated with that shift than the chancellor. That matters not just because he is a leading figure in the new Conservative government, but also because his chances of succeeding Mr Cameron as prime minister by 2020 have never looked better.As music thudded and Beijing’s beautiful people mingled outside in the garden (ahead of a fashion show for Superdry, a British clothing brand about to expand into China), I sat down with Mr Osborne in the British ambassador’s residence for a discussion on Britain's role in the world. I started off by asking him about his trip. NB: The interview has been lightly edited for clarity. George Osborne: I find it such a fascinating and interesting country. Each time I come back something has changed and it’s moved on in leaps and bounds.Bagehot: When did you first visit China?George Osborne: I visited China in the early 1990s essentially as a student—just after I had left university—and I backpacked around the country. I went to …
Source: The Economy