'I was too focused on the economy,' says Osborne

The former Chancellor said identity politics have taken over from concerns about the economy

Mr Osborne said if he was 'still telling stories' about his time as Chancellor when he was 70 that would be 'very depressing' (Getty)

George Osborne has said he was too focused on “getting the economy going” and failed to spot the rise of "identity politics" during his time as Chancellor.

In his first interview since leaving frontline politics in the wake of the June EU referendum, Mr Osborne said political parties would have to adapt to new realities in which people want to feel not just that the economy is working for them, but as if their voice is being heard.

“When I was chancellor I was very focused on unemployment numbers, GDP numbers, trying to get the British economy turned around,” Mr Osborne told the Times.

“I guess I assumed that you’ve got to get the economy going and then people see the benefits and it’s good for people to be in work. I didn’t understand that people want more than just that.

“They also want to feel that their views are understood and their voices listened to and that the system is working for them.

“My political generation was brought up on The West Wing ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ view of politics. What’s interesting is we’ve moved more to a politics of identity than a politics of the economy.

“But Conservatives are naturally better placed than the left to have a deeper understanding of identity and issues of nationality.”

Mr Osborne, who has since set up a think tank to carry on with his work on the Northern Powerhouse, said he had met former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger several times since leaving office. “He's in his 90s and he doesn't want to tell you about the time he had dinner with Mao Zedong, he wants to talk to you about Xi Jinping or what Trump should be doing,” he said. “I'm really determined not to spend the next however many decades I've got left on this planet trading off what I did between the ages of 38 and 45. If I'm still telling stories about my time as chancellor when I'm 70 then that would be very depressing.”

Mr Osborne said that while the 2015 election had been framed around economic issues, the referendum was different. “The referendum was framed more around issues of identity, and indeed people who voted to leave were very explicit that they were not voting to leave because they thought it would make them better off.”