I wish I could ban all those pictures of hi-vis George Osborne

To be crude about it, hi-vis visits make for good pictures

George Osborne visits the Airbus factory in Filton, Bristol, Britain (Reuters)

Every editor, whether at article, desk or newspaper level, has their quirks. You know, those little foibles and preferences, those peccadilloes and peculiarities that they bring to bear on every journalistic judgement.

Me, I’m as full of silly predilections as the next guy. For the most part, I try not to create problems for colleagues unless it’s in the paper’s interest. But there is one thing I cannot bear, which several of our staff can’t quite fathom. And that is my absolute hatred of pictures of George Osborne in a hi-vis jacket.

You see, the Chancellor has often said, including to me, that after his difficult 2012 (Omnishambles Budget, being booed at the Paralympics) he made an active decision to get out of his Treasury bunker, out of No 11, and around the country.

Every time he does this, visiting factories and building sites and research labs, two things are certain. First, he will wear a hi-vis jacket. Second, a vast retinue of cameras and film crew will be there to chronicle it.

For Osborne, being pictured in a hi-vis jacket is great PR. It shows he’s out and about, and on the side of the industries of tomorrow. It is he, after all, who owns those two anodyne phrases “We are the builders” and “March of the makers”. What better way to illustrate that than in hi-vis?

And to be crude about it, hi-vis visits make for good pictures. They are bright and jump off the page. Osborne is always reliably looking through a microscope, mixing cement or turning a screw. This allows us to illustrate stories with a picture from that day, rather than just an old stock or library one.

That is why I toyed with banning them from our pages. I can’t help but feel we’re being cynically manipulated – and lazy; that we’re doing the Government’s work for it. That’s not what journalism is for.

But ultimately a ban is impractical. Yesterday’s Business section opened with a classic case.

We had a story about Osborne postponing the sale of Lloyds shares. What picture to use? A boring one of a Lloyds branch, perhaps? Oh but… look! The Chancellor donned a helmet and – damn you, George! – hi-vis jacket on a visit to an Airbus factory in Bristol.

The infuriating truth is that, sometimes, just such a picture makes more sense, because another rule of editing is never, ever be boring. That is why you will have seen images of our hi-vis Chancellor in the paper and all over our website – each one a dagger to the heart of this eccentric editor. At least be aware that if it is there, it was the least bad option.

Have a great weekend.