It’s the dog all the toffs want to get their paws on these days… a fox-red working labrador.
But I’m not sure that George Osborne and his pregnant fiancee Thea Rogers are ready to send their mischievous new pup on to the shooting fields quite yet.
First the adorable dog got one of its legs wrapped around its lead during a walk near London‘s Portland Hospital before then trying to gnaw her way through the leash.
Later the dog looked likely to jump up at the former Chancellor, before Thea bent down give her a loving pat on the nose.
Having a new puppy just months before welcoming a child into the world is my idea of a nightmare but perhaps Thea, a Deliveroo executive, has taken some tips from her fiance and seems well-equipped to balance several jobs at once.
Osborne quit frontline politics in 2017 but has had no shortage of roles since then, and recently took up a lucrative position at investment bank Robey Warshaw. He also chairs the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
George Osborne, right, pictured with his fiancee Thea Rogers, centre, and their new puppy, left
The couple were taking a walk through London near London’s Portland Hospital
Having a new puppy just months before welcoming a child into the world is my idea of a nightmare but perhaps Thea, a Deliveroo executive, has taken some tips from her fiance and seems well-equipped to balance several jobs at once
Last month he hit back in the Tory civil war over China as he praised Boris Johnson for ‘seeing off the hotheads’ who he claimed want to start a ‘new Cold War’ with Beijing.
He said he sees ‘a lot of continuity’ between the Prime Minister’s new strategy for relations with China and the ‘golden era’ approach he took when he was in power.
Mr Osborne said the PM ‘should be congratulated’ for facing down Conservative hawks who are demanding the Government take a tougher stance against China.
His comments are likely to pour fuel on the fire as Mr Johnson faces a growing Tory revolt over his Integrated Review.
The security document calls for ‘deeper trade links’ with China despite also admitting it is a ‘systemic’ threat to the West.
Tory defence select committee chief Tobias Ellwood said he had hoped Mr Johnson would take the opportunity to ‘call out’ China for the ‘geo-strategic threat it is’.
George Osborne hit back in the Tory civil war over China last month as he praised the PM for ‘seeing off the hotheads’ who he claimed want to start a ‘new Cold War’ with Beijing
Some Tory MPs believe the PM’s new Integrated Review is too soft on China and want the Government to take a tougher approach
Intelligence committee chair Julian Lewis warned the ‘grasping naivety of the Cameron-Osborne years’ towards China ‘still lingers’ in some departments.
Mr Osborne had promised a ‘golden era for the UK-China relationship’ when he was in power and said the two nations should ‘stick together’.
He told the House of Lords’ International Relations and Defence Committee that he believes Mr Johnson is correct to recognise the ‘threat’ posed by China while also seeking to ‘engage’ with the country.
He said: ‘China is changing, becoming more assertive, but the question of how you deal with it has not changed.
‘And that to me is why I think Boris Johnson should be congratulated for seeing off the hotheads who want to launch some new Cold War with China and instead promoting an approach that is realistic about the threat that China poses but also wants to engage in the opportunity.
‘Talks about increasing trade, talks about increasing investment from China and essentially tries to co-opt China rather than confront China and to me that was the approach back then and it is the approach today.’
Mr Osborne said he believed his approach of ‘engaging with China in a more meaningful and deeper relationship that recognised the threat but also sought to try and co-opt China into the international order’ was ‘realistic’.
He added: ‘It was a deeper relationship and frankly reading the Government’s security document that they published yesterday, I see a lot of continuity in what is being proposed now and I very much welcome that.’
Mr Osborne said there ‘have been things that China has done that are not acceptable’ as he mentioned interference in Hong Kong and ‘suppression’ of the Uighur people in Xinjiang province.
He said many issues of concern were frequently raised with Beijing during the years of the Coalition Government.
David Walliams’s ex is praying for a belated wedding gift… from the Prince of Wales.
Sylvia Flote, who married Lord Oakeshott’s son Luke last weekend, is fighting plans by the Duchy of Cornwall to turn a former county court near her home in South London into flats – and hopes the Prince will order his designers to rethink a proposal to add an extra storey.
‘I have a high opinion of Prince Charles and the speeches he’s made about preserving the historic character of London from get-rich-quick architectural vandals,’ says Sylvia, 38, a former Miss Norway contender who dated Walliams in 2017.
Catch of the week… Elias Baker
Not only has Elias Becker inherited his dad Boris’s great genes – he looks pretty good in jeans too. The 21-year-old model and wannabe music producer has a growing fanbase thanks to pictures like this, and catwalk gigs with Dolce & Gabbana. While dozens of fans commented that this photo was ‘hot’ on Instagram last week, his doting mother Barbara posted a series of love-heart emojis under the caption instead.
