George Osborne joins Twitter on Budget day - the reaction
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's debut on the social media site has been met with rage, incredulity and, most importantly, jokes
To celebrate Budget day, George Osborne joined Twitter this morning and quickly amassed almost 20,000 followers. (He's @George_Osborne on the site, by the way.)
But sadly for the Chancellor, his inaugural tweet promising to deliver a Budget that will help “those who want to work hard get on” was greeted even less warmly than his appearance at last year’s Paralympic Games.
While a great deal of the responses were of the sweary, abusive kind, and therefore unfit for showcasing on a family website such as this, the Tory bigwig’s arrival on Twitter also provoked a smattering of jokes and wry observations from some of Britain’s favourite tweeters and media personalities.
So here are some of the best celebrity reactions so far to Twitter’s latest parliamentary convert:
John Prescott (former Deputy Prime Minister and prolific tweeter) @johnprescott : @George_Osborne One personal plea. Please don't introduce a tax on tweets. It'll ruin me #twitterbudget
Stephen Mangan (actor) @StephenMangan: The outpouring of love towards the new-to-twitter @george_osborne is bringing a tear to my eye.
David Schneider (comedian) @davidschneider: @George_Osborne to cut tweets to 135 characters by 2015 except for people with +200K followers. We don't want to drive them abroad #budget
Owen Jones (columnist) @OwenJones84: Having had his appetite for interaction with the public whetted at the Paralympics, George_Osborne has joined Twitter
Prince Charles (spoof account of the future king) @Charles_HRH: George Osborne on the phone. Says he's not quite sure what to wear when announcing the #Budget2013. One's suggested a balaclava.
Richard K Herring (comedian) @Herring1967: Oh my God @George_Osborne is on Twitter! Another solid decision from him that I can't see even possibly going wrong.
Jay Rayner (restaurant critic) @jayrayner1: Dear @george_osborne I've been looking at who you're following. You need to mix it up a bit. I suggest @rustyrockets @GusTheFox and @VICEUK
Robert Peston (BBC political editor) @Peston: Hmm, do I follow george_osborne? 'spose so, but I'll eat my smartphone if it's really his digits tickling the keys, for all Twitter's tick
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