George Osborne, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer and second-in-command to that guy who’s been roundly accused of putting his penis in a pig’s mouth a long time ago, has claimed in an interview with the Mail on Sunday that he is a big fan of legendary California rap group NWA.

In an attempt to emerge from the interview having wrestled some street credibility from the situation, Osborne selected his top five gigs, putting Ice Cube’s crew at Brixton Academy at the top of the list, a show he went to during his student days. This is as bad as when David Cameron said he liked The Smiths, and it’s hard to choose which mental image is worse, David Cameron braying "Hang The DJ" at Eton or Ozzy shouting "fuck the police" in Brixton. He did cut funding to police services by 40 per cent earlier this year though, so at least he might actually mean it.

He also revealed that he likes listening to St Vincent and Sufjan Stevens, shedding that lizard skin with every nod to the sensitive indie scene. It isn’t just cool music Osborne likes, it’s cool methods of communication, too. The politician revealed that he has a thing for emoji, with the "one with the sunglasses on" apparently his favourite and used to convey "well done" messages to members of the Cabinet who have performed well.

Politicans have previous for attempting to align themselves with things they believe, or have been told, are cool. Gordon Brown declared his love for Arctic Monkeys, only to find himself unable to name a song of theirs, and in the run up to the general election, David Cameron boasted that he was Kim Kardashian‘s 13th cousin, as political leaders aimlessly scrambled to be associated with reality TV stars – see the Nick Clegg and Joey Essex tragicomedy as further example.

The latest cred-thirsty ghoul, coming straight out of Paddington, it’s your boy Gideon Oliver Osborne.