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Osborne to stand down as an MP to concentrate on his other jobs

Published: 14:29 19 Apr 2017 BST

George Osborne

George Osborne, former chancellor of the Exchequer and now editor of London’s Evening Standard, will not be standing in the June general election.

The decision was reported in an exclusive by … the Evening Standard.

Quel surprise.

Well, at least it resolves one question concerning @PhilRhodTaylor on Twitter.

There does not seem to be a lot of sympathy for him on Twitter, but then finance ministers are rarely remembered with much affection.

Osborne’s decision was probably made easier by his being frozen out of government by Theresa May. He has not ruled out returning to politics in the future.

Meanwhile, prime minister Theresa May’s gamble in opting not to participate in televised election debates is drawing plenty of flak, but her party’s strategists must be hoping it will all blow over.

The main problem with that is that the TV companies will doubtless want to stage debates anyway, so the issue will flare up again every time they are televised.

Back in the world of business news, Primark and Burberry Group PLC (LON:BRBY) are making unlikely bedfellows in the headlines.

“Opening Quote: Sugar sweetens Primark's squeeze; Beige is back for Burberry” is the FT’s take on the disparate fortunes of the retail giants.

News of Burberry’s travails has even reached as far as Arizona, with the Arizona Daily Star reporting: “Burberry shares slide on weak sales report”.

All news is local, someone said, and to prove that, the US-focused TheStreet.com reports “Burberry dragged down by US department store closures” while the Yorkshire Post’s lead is “Burberry taking time to think through Leeds facility”.

Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF), the owner of Primark, has got over the disappointment of missing out on acquiring Weetabix, and is seeing its shares rise in a falling market after posting its results today.

High sugar prices, Primark’s growth and the weakness of sterling have all given AB Foods a lift.

Elsewhere in the retail sector Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) has sold a part of its business few people knew it had.

It has offloaded its opticians business in the UK and Ireland to VisionExpress.

Terms have not been disclosed, unless they were in the small print … which none of the editorial team members at Proactive are able to read.

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