A furious George Osborne swore at Nick Clegg and blamed him for the Budget backlash over the ‘granny tax’, it was revealed last night.
The Chancellor exploded in anger at the Deputy Prime Minister in a heated confrontation, forcing David Cameron to intervene and act as peacemaker.
At one point, Mr Osborne is said to have referred to the ‘f****** Lib Dems’ – hardest hit are those turning 65 next year, who will lose £323 annually.
Senior Tory MP David Ruffley, a member of the Commons Treasury Committee, predicted elderly people would be ‘bellyaching’ for a long time. And Conservative officials said some OAPs had torn up their party membership in protest.
Treasury sources say the backlash over the stealth tax raid was the result of a series of leaks by the Lib Dems which stripped Mr Osborne of ‘good news’ to unveil on Budget Day.
Mr Osborne was in the United States with the Prime Minister on March 15 when he was told that his decision to cut the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p had been leaked to the Left-wing Guardian ,
