Ed Balls gave a point blank denial to Brillo that he had ever criticised Darling’s plans to halve the deficit on the Daily Politics. As you can see, the Shadow Chancellor has barely been able contain his glee at the frosty numbers, but he seems to have forgotten exactly what he told Bloomberg in his pitch for job:

“I told Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling in 2009 that – whatever the media clamour at the time – even trying to halve the deficit in four years was a mistake. The pace was too severe to be credible or sustainable.”

Just like he never briefed behind anyone’s back…