George Osborne’s first taste of political leadership came aged 12. At his prep school, Colet Court, he took charge of a party for school election in 1983. The Chancellor’s chosen party (as the forthcoming schools guide will discuss) was not the Conservatives, but his own Independent Conservatives. Sadly, history does not record what caused this schism — but it does seem to be the first evidence of Osborne’s modernising tendencies.