George Osborne is not ready to lead the country, as Angela Eagle demonstrated at Prime Minister's Questions

This was Osborne’s audition for the top job – but it didn’t quite go to plan

George Osborne takes PMQs on 25 May 2016 (BBC)

Prime Minister’s Questions? Not today: a line up of deputies saw Chancellor George Osborne take on Labour’s Angela Eagle at the dispatch boxes, while David Cameron met G7 leaders in Japan and Jeremy Corbyn took a break from pulling questions from his bag of fan mail.

It was, in fact, an Osborne-Eagle rematch, the pair having met once before, and the fight followed a similar course. Eagle stole the show, pinning the Chancellor on his already bruised tax record, describing as “cosy” his complex relationship with the likes of Google, and exposing how little the Conservatives had done to tackle tax avoidance.

The grimaces were visible on the Chancellor’s face. He ducked questions on Tory tax affairs and tried to turn the tables onto Labour’s and Eagles’ own achievements, or lack of, in government. Despite being Chancellor for six years, Osborne’s instinct under pressure is still to refer to Labour’s record rather than identifying and celebrating his own side’s achievements. It is a weakness that would see him ridiculed as party leader.

Here is a man forever focused on what happened before he came to power, incapable of providing straight answers to straight questions, marshalling information for his own ends. When he faces a threat, the man who may be our next prime minister resorts to poor humour, mounts attacks on his opponent and finds creative ways to deflect the question.

This was Osborne’s audition for the top job, but it didn’t quite go to plan. Eagle’s sarcasm proved an effective tool; her quick-witted responses undermined both Osborne and his party, as she spotted that Tory Brexiteers had been banished from the front bench, highlighting the infighting within the party that this week led to cabinet member Iain Duncan Smith name calling Osborne “Pinocchio”.

Nevertheless, the cheers from backbenchers for Osborne were boisterous. He remains the party favourite to take over from Cameron. But a YouGov poll suggests that just 11 per cent of voters think that he can run the country. His performance today will have done very little to change that.

Osborne is a long way off the standard Cameron has set for PMQs, though Eagle is undoubtedly a significantly tougher opponent than her party leader. This is a serious problem for the two men who have their sights set on Downing Street in 2020, one they are both keen to resolve.

For Labour, the match between Osborne vs Eagle allows the party to really enjoy PMQs, to land more damaging blows that get to the heart of the issues under debate. But Osborne will walk away disappointed that he failed to capitalise on this opportunity and confirm his position as the most likely candidate to take over from the Prime Minister when he finally steps aside.