George Osborne's son campaigned for Vince Cable in General Election

Sir Vince regained his Twickenham seat from the Conservatives, after "a text from someone called George" saying his son would like to help

Vince regained his Twickenham seat from the Conservatives, with some unlikely help (Getty Images)

George Osborne’s son campaigned for Lib Dem Vince Cable during the election campaign, the party leadership favourite has revealed.

Sir Vince regained his Twickenham seat which he lost to Conservative Tania Mathias at the 2015 election, with the assistance of sixteen year old Luke Osborne. "

"He came and helped us once or twice and it was a nice thing," Sir Vince said in an interview with Politics Home. "It reflects very well on George Osborne that he saw the whole thing in good spirits.

"He came down on election day and did some knocking up. I had a quick chat with him and he seemed like a nice chap."

Sir Vince told a Liberal Democrat even last week that he had received a text from someone who revealed themselves merely as "George", saying their son would like to come and canvass in Twickenham.

Sir Vince, who is all but certain to become Lib Dem leader in the coming weeks, didn’t realise until he called the number back that it was George Osborne, his cabinet colleague.

Mr Osborne then introduced the pair at an Evening Standard event some days later.

Mr Osborne has been unsparing in his attacks on Theresa May’s government since becoming Evening Standard editor. Earlier this week he took on a new role as Honorary Professor of Economics at Manchester University, where he will now give a small number of lectures over the course of the academic year.

Mr Osborne’s flagship policy as Chancellor was the "northern powerhouse" - an attempt to rebalance the national economy away from London and kickstart northern cities.

Sir Vince appeared alongside Mr Osborne during a referendum campaign event at Stansted airport last year.