Cameron, Osborne accused of ducking questions in Cannes

SKY NEWS political editor Adam Boulton has attacked George Osborne and David Cameron this morning for avoiding interviews at Cannes.

Using Twitter, Boulton sent out the message: "Cameron and Osborne staying on the sidelines, ducking interviews. Is that wise given scale of global economic crisis?"

After being challenged for proof, Boulton said that in the first 24 hours of the G20 summit, Cameron had given zero interviews while George Osborne had managed only one (a rather tetchy performance on the Today programme this morning in which he said it would be best if Greece stayed in the eurozone).

There have been no press conferences from either man, Boulton went on, and he took the chance to remind us that Osborne had refused political interviews during October’s Tory party conference, too.

Actually, there was a clip of Osborne speaking on Sky this morning. However, Boulton said it was from a closed "pooled" interview, not the one-to-one chance to question the Chancellor that he would expect at a time of economic crisis.

The Mole believes Boulton’s story that he - and others – are being refused interviews. The fact is Cameron and Osborne are hugely embarrassed by the disclosure that Britain is going to be asked to stump up billions of pounds to bolster IMF funds.

As The Daily Telegraph reported this morning, a deal being negotiated at Cannes could see the IMF double in size. Why? Because the world needs massive emergency resources in case the EU plan to save the euro is not enough to stabilise the world economy.

Yet Cameron is still trying to maintain the fiction that Britain is not paying to rescue the euro.

The PM might be able to hide from Adam Boulton but he won’t be able to avoid the Eurosceptic Tory MPs waiting to question him about the IMF bill when Cameron addresses the Commons on Monday.

Thirty Tory rebels voted against the government the last time it sought approval for giving the IMF extra money. There could be many more this time. The Government could even face defeat – making us look, in the eyes of the world, a lot like Greece. ·