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A gain for politics, yes, but a loss for journalism?

There has been speculation that Balls, who has been a powerhouse at the top of Labour politics since he started working for Gordon Brown in 1994, could seek an early return to the Commons through a byelection, but Balls told the BBC he was not planning a return to parliament and that “outside of politics is where I am going next”.

He went on: “You never say never about anything, because who knows what’s going to happen, but the reality for me now is that I want to make a difference to the world outside of politics. That’s how I’m thinking about things. I’m not going to be dashing back.

“I’ve been thinking about and writing about economics for 20 years and there’s really big issues out there … is the financial system sound, the development challenge which is pushing migrants into Europe. These are things where, for the first time, there’s real time to stand back and think and write a bit. That’s what I’ll do.”

14 thoughts on “A gain for politics, yes, but a loss for journalism?”

  1. An unctuous estate agent, would be tailor made for him with his experience of flipping and telling porkies.

  2. Yes, there are big issues out there and if there was any fucking justice in the world, you’d be selling them.

  3. Bloke in North Dorset

    Looks like he’s being lined up for some lucrative BBC work. After the glowing character reference given by Robinson on election morning when his result was announced and then this soft interview the cleansing of his history has started.

  4. So he’s going to get a plum job saying pretty much what a thousand others are saying because he has connections? That’s a surprise, isn’t it?

  5. “for the first time, there’s real time to stand back and think” not a great line for a man who was angling to be Chancellor so recently.

  6. In the great expenses scandal, I thought the antics of Balls and his moll were among the most disgusting. They got off with it. I can only assume there was some inter-party trading along the lines of “if you spare Ed and Trixiebelle you can jail some of the pbi”.

  7. Since Ed Balls demise was one of the highlights of this election (I still hold a mini-celebration at 08:21 each morning), I doubt that he would get re-elected in any by-election any time soon.

    As far as the electorate is concerned he is a dinosaur who neither appealed to the voters, nor the MP’s within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Any relevance he might have had has long since disappeared.

    He is tainted by close association with both “Bottler Brown” and “Miliband the Loser”, without some form of political reinvention (unlikely in his case), his days in politics are done apart from as the spouse of Tinkerbell and even she is on the last roll of the dice.

  8. It says everything that when a politician talks of “the world outside politics” he means the media.

  9. “lined up for the BBC”–The New Portillo perhaps?
    Great Hovercraft Journeys of the World–he is a recognised expert on hot air after all.

  10. John Galt: I’m sure there’s a few dozen electorates that would send him to parliament based purely on the colour of his rosette.

  11. @ Matthew L
    Very probably – but in the 1965 by-election Leyton chose *not* to elect Patrick Gordon Walker, so only a *very few* dozen.

  12. Bloke in Costa Rica

    It doesn’t help matters that he looks like a skinned pig’s knuckle in a shiny suit.

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