George Osborne has faced lots of "mixed" and "shocked" reactions from Tatton voters after he published an open letter defending his decision to become the new editor of the London Evening Standard on Wednesday (22 March).

A source close to Cheshire's Knutsford Guardian, which published the article, also said they are planning to publish the responses to the former Chancellor in the next edition.

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Osborne, 45, compared himself to Brexit rival Boris Johnson as he promised to keep up the hard work in his Greater Manchester seat.

"There is a long tradition of politics and journalism mixing. One of the greatest newspaper editors ever, CP Scott, combined editing the Manchester Guardian with being an MP. In our age, politicians from Iain Macleod and Richard Crossman to, of course, Boris Johnson have combined the role of editor and Member of Parliament," he wrote.

But the senior Conservative has faced a backlash over the move into journalism since he will still receive £75,000 per year as an MP for Tatton on top of an annual salary of £650,000 to advise investment firm BlackRock.

A 38 Degrees petition, launched before Osborne's letter was published, has surpassed more than 188,000 signatures.

"George Osborne has just accepted a job as editor of the Evening Standard. But he's already got a full-time job as an MP, representing tens of thousands of people who live in his constituency, including me," the petition said.

"It's not appropriate for someone to be a member of the government and also control a huge amount of the media. George Osborne needs to pick a job."

Osborne will succeed current Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands in May.

George Osborne