George Osborne yesterday faced a growing public family revolt over Britain remaining in the EU.
His aunt, Jennifer Little, spoke out in favour of Brexit — just days after his uncle, James Osborne, called for Britain to quit the union.
Jennifer’s husband Antony, who founded the Osborne & Little wallpaper company with the chancellor’s father, Sir Peter Osborne, in the Sixties, also urged Britain to vote Leave.
Speaking to the Standard, Little said: “My husband and I are very fond of George but we totally disagree with him on Brexit.”
She bluntly dismissed one of the central claims in the government’s 14-page booklet on why Britain should remain in the EU — that if it quits, food prices could rise.
“It’s ludicrous. I don’t believe it,” she said of the statement.
The pamphlet, which was sent to 26mn households and cost the Treasury more than £9mn, also argues “we control our own borders in Britain”. It highlights David Cameron’s deal to restrict immigration by making the benefits system “less of a draw” for EU citizens.
But Little, 77, rejected this, saying: “No, we don’t have control of our borders and the level of migration is definitely way too high.” While the chancellor’s aunt
is very enthusiastic towards him, she also has a soft spot for the mayor of London. “I love Boris,” she said.
Yesterday, with the Leave campaign knocked onto the backfoot by Barack Obama’s intervention in the debate, former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith defended Johnson after he described Obama as “part-Kenyan”, though he admitted the mayor’s comment may have been “clumsy”.