Budget: ‘Gideon’ Osborne gets a Twitter roasting

Those looking for serious analysis of the Budget's contents would have been disappointed, although possibly amused, if they found themselves on Twitter this afternoon. The chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, was trending under his middle name 'Gideon'.

"Nasty cough you've got there Gideon, choking on your lies?" asked one user as Osborne stumbled through his over an hour-long speech. Another user, referring to his aristocratic background, quipped, "Has Gideon swallowed his silver spoon or something?"

His name was the subject for plenty of jibes. "'Gideon' is trending," noted one user. "That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about twitter's opinion of the budget." Others were less subtle: "You know the country is fucked when a man with the middle name Gideon is doing the budget."

Matters were not helped by the fact that his budget was not even perceived to be a good one.

"What's Gideon drinking? The tears of small children?" demanded one user. Noting the 1p drop in fuel tax which is effective tonight, another commented: "Gutted I filled up the car in expectation of the budget today..should have waited until 6pm."

Spoof accounts came into their own, with one user tweeting: "Clegg here. Have an uncontrollable urge to pinch Gideon's bottom. Hope Dave doesn't guess what I'm thinking."

Larry the "Number10cat" stuck his claws in, tweeting an apparently overheard conversation between the prime minister and his deputy: "Clegg: "I've slept with 40 women" Osborne: "That's nothing, I'm about to screw the entire country". The cat also indulged in a bit of whistleblowing: "I don't want to concern anyone but Osborne's new #budget box is from the Tesco Value range... #kittileaks".

As news broke that Elizabeth Taylor had died, tweeters were quick to adjust. "Wow! the budget killed elizabeth taylor. nice one gideon," said one user, whilst another asked: "Did Liz get a tip off on Gideon's plans for increasing death duty?"

Mostly, however, tweets were aimed directly at Osborne. "Gideon reminds me of the childcatcher in chittychittybangbang every time he says we're all in this together," commented one user. ·