George Osborne
Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 WHO created the OBR.
George Osborne was Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer from May 2010 to July 2016 and MP for Tatton from 2001 to 2017; in 2010 he created the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for George Osborne
Created the OBR in 2010
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Hillier's MPs seek 10-year OBR forecastBackground
George Osborne returns to the news as the Chancellor WHO created the Office for Budget Responsibility in 2010, after MPs on the Treasury Committee suggested on 23 September 2026 that it add a ten-year forecast. He moved official forecasting out of the Treasury after criticism that its figures sat too close to ministers' wishes.
He was Chancellor from May 2010 to July 2016 under David Cameron and MP for Tatton from 2001 to 2017. Parliament put the OBR on a statutory footing in the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act, which received Royal Assent on 22 March 2011. His 2014 to 2016 Northern Powerhouse agenda is still the reference point for pitches to move economic power north. He left the Commons in 2017 and edited the Evening Standard until 2020.
Every Chancellor since 2010 has written Budgets against forecasts from the body Osborne set up, which is why arguments over the OBR's power keep returning to his design.