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| Ed Balls profile: an economical choice as home secretary Failed Labour leadership contender seemed a natural shadow chancellor after his savaging of coalition cutbacksDuring the Labour leadership campaign Ed Balls emerged as the most trenchant critic of the coalition government's austerity drive. Accusing the government of repeating the mistakes of the past, he pointed to 1931, when Labour's Ramsay MacDonald and his chancellor, Philip Snowden, pushed for spending cuts to slash the deficit and satisfy the markets."And the result?" wrote Balls in the Guardian. "The promised private sector recovery failed to materialise as companies themselves sought to retrench. Unemployment soared. The great depression soured world politics and divided societies."Because of an extensive economics background – he was nicknamed the deputy chancellor – Balls seemed a natural for the job of shadow chancellor, but that prize has gone to Alan Johnson, with Balls appointed shadow home secretary.Before being parachuted into the safe Labour seat of Normanton in 2005 Balls had been Gordon Brown's economic adviser and confidant, then chief economic adviser to the Treasury from 1999. It was Balls who famously wrote a line into one of Brown's speeches about "the growth of post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory", prompting Michael Heseltine's equally memorable retort: "It's not Brown's. It's Balls."Balls was appointed economics secretary one year after reaching parliament, and was promoted to secretary of state for children, schools and families when Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister in 2007.Despite Balls's undoubted intellectual credentials his reputation as a political bruiser and Brown's attack dog worked against him during the leadership campaign. He came third despite deploying what many thought were the most cogent arguments against the Tories' austerity drive.After Labour's defeat Balls managed to land some blows against the education secretary, Michael Gove, another former journalist, and won kudos for effective opposition to government plans for scrapping Labour's Building Schools for the Future programme.Balls began his career as lead economic writer at the Financial Times after studying PPE at Oxford and as a Kennedy scholar at Harvard. He joined Brown's team as an adviser in 1995. Balls has played a prominent role in the Fabians, the thinktank and political society founded in 1884 that helped found the Labour party in 1900.He is married to Yvette Cooper, the MP for the neighbouring constituency of Pontefract and Castleford, West Yorkshire, with whom he has three children. Under Ed Miliband, Cooper has an equally high profile: shadowing the foreign secretary, William Hague.Ed BallsLabourMark Tranguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Police tweet for 24 hour project One of the UK's biggest police forces has been using the social networking site Twitter to publicise all its 999 calls over 24 hours bbc.co.uk |
UK retail sales suffer surprise fall for second month in a row as consumer cut back UK retail sales fell for second month in September in a further sign that consumers are cutting spending in anticipation of the fiscal squeeze. telegraph.co.uk |
US embassy cables: Prince Charles 'does not command same respect as Queen' says Commonwealth mandarin Thursday, 11 June 2009, 15:32C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LONDON 001385 SIPDIS EO 12958 DECL: 06/11/2019 TAGS PREL, EAID, PHUM, PINR, NI, CE, FJ, NZ, CA, MY, UK SUBJECT: COMMMONWEALTH ON FIJI, SRI LANKA, NIGERIA, QUEEN'S SUCCESSION, AND THE VALUE TO USG OF COMMONWEALTH ENGAGEMENTREF: LONDON 580Classified By: Political Counselor Richard Mills, reasons 1.4 (b/d)1. (C) Summary. During a June 11 discussion with Poloff, Commonwealth Political Director Amitav Banerji offered electoral commission capacity-building as an area where the USG and Commonwealth could be strategic partners; said a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) would soon discuss and likely recommend full suspension of Fiji; noted concern about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka; and indicated the Commonwealth is keeping a watchful eye on Nigeria because of the constitutional crisis that could ensue if President Yar'Adua dies. While noting that it was not actively being dicussed, Banerji acknowledged that succession of the Head of the Commonwealth would have to be dealt with when Queen Elizabeth passes, as there is no rule stipulating that the British monarch is the head and no procedure for selecting a new head. End Summary.USG Engagement--------------2. (C) Commonwealth Secretariat Director of Political Affairs Amitav Banerji reiterated to Poloff Commonwealth SYG Kamalesh Sharma's desire for "strategic engagement" with the USG on June 11. Noting the important role of electoral commissions in conducting credible elections, Banerji said Sharma hopes to create a network of electoral commissions across the Commonwealth, whereby newer commissions in fragile democracies could receive guidance and support from commissions in more established democracies. He offered this initiative as an example of where the USG and Commonwealth have mutual interests and where the USG could use the Commonweath's technical electoral commission capacity-building capability and independent, "baggage free" status to promote democracy abroad.Fiji----3. (C) Noting that the Commonwealth had past the deadline set at the May CMAG meeting to re-consider full suspension of Fiji (reftel), Banerji said he was very "frustrated" that CMAG had not yet met to discuss Fiji, especially as the Commonwealth's credibility could be damaged by not taking a decision as indicated at the last meeting. He said CMAG had not met purely for scheduling reasons, and that the Secretariat hopes to hold the meeting by the end of the month, though he was not confident it would be possible. He thought CMAG would move for full suspension of Fiji, intimating there had been difficult discussions at the previous CMAG meeting on Fiji with New Zealand pushing hard for full suspension and Malaysia wanting to ensure that Fiji did not withdraw from the Commonwealth to pre-empt a full suspension a la Zimbabwe.Sri Lanka---------4. (C) Banerji said that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka during and after the recent military offensive had been raised "informally and off the record" by the UK during the last CMAG meeting, forcing a difficult conversation with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, as Sri Lanka is currently a member of CMAG. Banerji said the Commonwealth continues to watch the situation in Sri Lanka and noted that Sri Lanka's offer to host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) had been turned down over concerns about lending international credibility to the Government's actions.Nigeria-------5. (C) The Commonwealth is also keeping a watchful eye on Nigeria, Banerji noted, as it is "punching well below its weight" and President Yar'Adua's sudden death has the potential to prompt a constitutional crisis. The Commonwealth would like to see Nigeria more active in the region and in the Commonwealth across the board. Banerji noted that Yar'Adua did not make a single intervention at the last CHOGM, contrasting sharply with former President ObsanjoLONDON 00001385 002 OF 002who had been active in Commonwealth affairs.Succession of the Head of the Commonwealth------------------------------------------6. (C) Banerji acknowledged that succession of the Head of the Commonwealth would have to be dealt with when Queen Elizabeth passes, as there is no rule stipulating that the British monarch is the head and no procedure for selecting a new head. He acknowledged that heir-apparent to the British Crown, Prince Charles, does not "command the same respect" as the Queen and said the Commonwealth was trying quietly to get him more involved in Commonwealth affairs. Banerji noted Marlborough House, the Commonwealth Secretariat's current location, was a royal property, owned and funded by the British Royal Family, and mused that may be a factor in the discussions. He noted that succession was not actively being discussion within the Commonwealth.Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_KingdomLeBaronPrince CharlesThe QueenMonarchyFijiSri LankaNigeriaUS foreign policyThe US embassy cablesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Our second gallery of Telegraph readers' photographs of the snow in Britain Our second gallery of Telegraph readers' photographs of snow. telegraph.co.uk |