This is how the Daily Mail viewed George Osborne after last year's March Budget.
t would be fair to say that there are now clouds over the relationship.
In those days, the paper was in the habit of calling the Chancellor George rather than Osborne. It was also chummy with Dave, the Prime Minister.
Today it still calls him Dave - or Mr Cameron - but to demonstrate disdain rather than friendship or respect.
The Sun, too, was an admirer of "George" and it was as elated as the Mail when the Conservatives secured an outright victory over the dreaded "Red Ed" Miliband in last year's general election.
But newspapers can be fickle. The Mail - ever-ready to denounce anyone in public life who changes their stance on any given issue - now seems to relish every opportunity to give its former heroes a good kicking. And the Sun is happy to join in the bundle. Both papers have new best friends: Boris and Michael (whose wife, of course, writes for the Mail).
They would argue, of course, that it is the job of newspapers to hold those in power to account and that they have a responsibility to speak up when they believe the Government is not acting in the country's best interests.
If they continue on their current path and are ultimately successful in securing an "Out" vote in the referendum, there is a very good chance that their old friend Dave may have to hand the keys of No 10 to Boris Johnson. Let's hope the blond bombshell is prepared for the day his friends in the Press turn on him.
In the meantime, here's a reminder of how things were...
t would be fair to say that there are now clouds over the relationship.
In those days, the paper was in the habit of calling the Chancellor George rather than Osborne. It was also chummy with Dave, the Prime Minister.
Today it still calls him Dave - or Mr Cameron - but to demonstrate disdain rather than friendship or respect.
The Sun, too, was an admirer of "George" and it was as elated as the Mail when the Conservatives secured an outright victory over the dreaded "Red Ed" Miliband in last year's general election.
But newspapers can be fickle. The Mail - ever-ready to denounce anyone in public life who changes their stance on any given issue - now seems to relish every opportunity to give its former heroes a good kicking. And the Sun is happy to join in the bundle. Both papers have new best friends: Boris and Michael (whose wife, of course, writes for the Mail).
They would argue, of course, that it is the job of newspapers to hold those in power to account and that they have a responsibility to speak up when they believe the Government is not acting in the country's best interests.
If they continue on their current path and are ultimately successful in securing an "Out" vote in the referendum, there is a very good chance that their old friend Dave may have to hand the keys of No 10 to Boris Johnson. Let's hope the blond bombshell is prepared for the day his friends in the Press turn on him.
In the meantime, here's a reminder of how things were...
...and how they turned sour
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