Shadow Chancellor Not Up To The Job

They are saying on the 10 o clock show thing (jury is out on that) that it was his wife having an affair, not him. Apparently with his bodyguard

Its just like Bodyguard the movie

I can't be the only one appalled that a chancellor would know so little about NI rates.

Mind you, my dear grandad once said that only in Government would you find so many people doing a job they aren't actually qualified to do!

LFN, to true Balls is a nasty peice of work which is in his favour, he will get under Gideons skin. As for not being liked i am not so sure that is true, not liked by the Blairites maybe. A lot to look forward to.

If you mean that he denies that the deficit was purely caused by Gordon Brown, then yes he is a deficit denier.

Balls, like most sensible people, think the deficit was caused by multiple factors.

Sorry, have just read Guido Fawkes, so now I catch your drift. Cherchez la femme (or l'homme in this case) as the French put it so well.

Balls is dangerous because he is such a natural at Opposition, and he isn't afraid to knife anyone, using the dirtiest of dirty tactics - as we saw with his continuing friendship with Damian McBride and Charlie Whelan, his part in the downfall of Tony Blair, and of course his part in ousting Alan Johnson. This same malicious streak is also a massive liability for Labour though, because no-one, even within that party, actually likes him.

He also has the distinction of being one of the main authors of Gordon Brown's disastrous economics - and he won't be allowed to forget it.

Labour have been deficit deniers for ages now - but at least some of the more Blairite ones gave the pretence of caring. Balls wants more borrowing, more taxes, more spending. He is about as pure a deficit denier as they come.

So there are both dangers and opportunities for the coalition. We live in interesting times.

"He was Browns top aide and advisor and helped cause the economic problems that we have at the moment."

The banks caused the economic problems not Labour, it wasnt the Labour party selling sub prime mortgages, what labour did wrong was not to regulate the banks properly (just like the Tories are still not doing)

Bonuses all round anyone.

Balls will wipe the floor with Gideon just as he did with Gove

Am I missing something here? Obviously most of you know something I don't! (To save me buying the Sun tomorrow) Will someone just spill the beans? PLEASE

Postman Pat was not the person to shadow the treasury. Nice bloke, just not bright enough. Balls has balls and should give Georgie a run for his money. So two top Shadow jobs to a husband and wife team now.

I like Alan Johnson and I think frontline politics will suffer from his absence. However I don't think Balls is a very good replacement, he was Browns top aide and advisor and helped cause the economic problems that we have at the moment.

Yes, Balls is good. He is half sincere, which is far more than the rest of the progressive team.

Great news, Balls will wipe the floor with Gideon just as he used to with Gove.

Yes, I never thought he looked good

He was just a nice guy. And now he's not even that it seems

Still like and respect Alan Johnson and think he would have made a good leader .It makes sense why he did not run for it if it is true. Balls is not going to give up easily is he ? Probably still got his sights on Eds job.

'Rumour had it whilst he was in the Cabinet that he always made sure he had a great team behind him, and that's what made him look good.'

I never thought he looked good. I think they'd better sack the team behind him; they weren't up to it either.

All in The Sun tomorrow, apparently.

LadyBlaBlah, absolutely. The party of integrity, rectitude, standards and honour. They truly deserve the moniker Right Honourable Members, unlike some of those other Honeckers.

apparently all of Westminster knew about Johnson, but they didn't tell the proles.

whatever the "personal" reason behind AJ going - he was never the right man for the job. Rumour had it whilst he was in the Cabinet that he always made sure he had a great team behind him, and that's what made him look good. I don't think he's ever been fully up to any of these heavyweight jobs, and the Shadow Chancellor portfolio proved to be just too much weight (and he will have far less of a team behind him in Opposition of course).

It seems the Damian McBride element lives on. Ed Balls' camp seems to have leaked this - and I bet Alan Johnson won't let him forget it.

Alan Johnson was the wrong choice all along - he was nice but dim. But the circumstances of his knifing might make him a perennial thorn in Red Ed's side.

Not to mention - with Balls as shadow Chancellor, Labour are no doubt going to abandon deficit reduction entirely. They are going to go for the borrow and spend magic money approach.

Are there any Blairites left at all in the Shadow Cabinet ?

lol claig - yes, that party of integrity

But who knew old Alan was a go-er eh?

Balls in, Johnson out. Fnaar

that's why I vote Tory

damn I'm always 7 minutes behind the times!

sorry folks

crosspost

according to guido fawkes, johnson is having an affair with a civil servant and ed balls leaked it to the papers to get his job

bastard balls

well bastard johnson too

they are all bastards!

thanks Alouiseg, I forgot about Guido. They always know what's up. But the politically correct should be prepared to be scandalised by Guido.