Ed Balls
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Ed Balls MP (born February 25, 1967) is a Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament. He served as chief economics adviser at the Treasury of the United Kingdom under Gordon Brown from 1999 to 2004.
Born in Norwich he was educated at the Nottingham High School, the University of Oxford, and later as a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University. His career began as lead economic writer at the Financial Times (1990-1994) followed by his appointment as an economic adviser to the then shadow chancellor Gordon Brown (1994-1997).
As Labour swept to power in the General Election of 1997 he continued on as an economic adviser to Brown, who was now chancellor. He then served as chief economics adviser from 1999 to 2004. In July 2004 he was selected to stand as Labour and Co-operative candidate for the parliamentary seat of Normanton in West Yorkshire, a Labour stronghold. In the 2005 General Election he was elected MP for Normanton with a majority of 10,002 and 51.2% of the vote. The West Yorkshire seat has been occupied by Labour MPs for longer than any other constituency in the United Kingdom.
Balls is likely to play a key role in government should Gordon Brown become Prime Minister in the course of the next Parliament, as is widely expected. He is married to Yvette Cooper MP, a junior minister in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and they have two children, Ellie and Joe.
External links
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Edward Balls MP (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-8785,00.html)
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Edward Balls MP (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/edward_balls/normanton)
- The Public Whip - Edward Balls MP, Normanton (http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Edward_Balls&mpc=Normanton) voting record
- "Backroom bruiser steps out from Brown's shadow" (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,1258214,00.html) - The Guardian interview with Ed Balls, July 10, 2004
- [1] (http://www.edballs.net) personal website for the Normanton constituencysv:Ed Balls