George Osborne

Context: George Osborne was born in Paddington, London, as Gideon Oliver Osborne; he decided when he was 13 to be known by the additional first name of 'George'. In an interview in July 2005, he said: "It was my small act of rebellion. I never liked it [the name 'Gideon']. When I finally told my mother she said, 'Nor do I'. So I decided to be George after my grandfather, who was a war hero. Life was easier as a George; it was a straightforward name." He is the eldest of four boys. His father Sir Peter Osborne co-founded the firm of fabric and wallpaper designers Osborne & Little. His mother is Felicity Alexandra Loxton-Peacock, the daughter of Hungarian-born artist Clarisse Loxton-Peacock (nee Feher). Osborne was educated at independent schools: Norland Place School, Colet Court and St Paul's School. In 1990 he was awarded a demyship at Magdalen College, Oxford, where in 1993 he received a 2:1 bachelor's degree in Modern History. Whilst there, he was a member of the Bullingdon Club. He also attended Davidson College in North Carolina for a semester, as a Dean Rusk Scholar. In 1993, Osborne intended to pursue a career in journalism. He was shortlisted for, but failed to gain a place on, The Times' trainee scheme; he also applied to The Economist, where he was interviewed and rejected by Gideon Rachman. In the end, he had to settle for freelance work on the Peterborough diary column of The Daily Telegraph. One of his Oxford friends, journalist George Bridges, alerted Osborne some time later to a research vacancy at Conservative Central Office. He was appointed in September 2004 by then Conservative leader Michael Howard to the Shadow Cabinet, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following the 2005 general election, Howard promoted him to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer at the young age of 33. Howard had initially offered the post to William Hague, who turned it down. Press reports suggest that the second choice for the post was David Cameron, who also rejected the job, preferring to take on a major public service portfolio (he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Education). Thus, Howard seems to have turned to Osborne as his third choice for the role. His promotion prompted speculation he would run for the leadership of the Conservative Party when Howard stepped down, but he ruled himself out within a week. Osborne served as campaign manager for David Cameron's leadership campaign, and kept the Shadow Chancellor's post when Cameron became leader later that year. When David Cameron was asked in 2009 whether or not he would be willing to sack a close colleague such as Osborne, he stated, "With George, the answer is yes. He stayed in my shadow cabinet not because he is a friend, not because we are godfathers to each other's children but because he is the right person to do the job. I know and he knows that if that was not the case he would not be there." At this time Osborne expressed an interest in the ideas of "tax simplification" (including the idea of flat tax). He set up a "Tax Reform Commission" in October 2005 to investigate ideas for how to create a "flatter, simpler" tax system. The system then proposed would reduce the income tax rate to a flat 22%, and increase the personal allowance from PS4,435 to between PS10,000 and PS15,500. However, the idea of a flat tax was not included in the 2010 Conservative Party manifesto. Each year between 2006 and 2009, Osborne attended the annual Bilderberg Conference, a meeting of influential people in business, finance and politics. In February 2013, the UK lost its AAA credit rating--which Osborne had indicated to be a priority when coming to power--for the first time since 1978. His March 2013 budget was made when the Office for Budget Responsibility had halved its forecast for that year's economic growth from 1.2% to 0.6%. It was described by The Daily Telegraph's economics editor as "an inventive, scattergun approach to growth that half-ticked the demands of every policy commentator, wrapped together under the Chancellor's banner of Britain as an 'aspiration nation'." However, it was positively received by the public, with the ensuing boost to Conservative Party support in opinion polls standing in marked contrast to the previous year's budget. The economy subsequently began to pick up in mid-2013, with Osborne's net public approval rating rising from -33 to +3 over the following 12 months. By March 2015 the annual deficit had been cut by about half of the initial target; thus, the debt-to-GDP ratio was still rising. Also, the United Kingdom national debt increased more during the five-year term than during the previous 13 years. Moreover, the economy deteriorated after the election owing to the uncertainty caused by the referendum. Reviewing his performance in July 2016, The Guardian said that the UK still had a budget deficit of 4%, a balance-of-payments (trade) deficit of 7% of GDP, and (apart from Italy) the worst productivity among the G7 nations. An Office for National Statistics graph including the period 2010-2016 shows a worsening balance-of-trade deficit. The Conservative manifesto for the 2015 general election contained a promise not to raise income tax, VAT, or national insurance for the duration of the parliament. Journalist George Eaton maintains that Osborne did not expect an outright Conservative majority, and expected his Liberal Democrat coalition partners to make him break that promise. CANNOTANSWER

Question: Besides being positively received, what else can you tell me about George Osborne's Budget deficit?
Answer: By March 2015 the annual deficit had been cut by about half of the initial target;