Where there are unemployment figures, there is a chance to spin. Especially for Watson-trained Balls Political Adviser / bruiser Alex Belardinelli. There he was, gleefully tweeting killer stats to talk down today’s unemployment figures:

Apparently we should "celebrate" the fact that unemployment is higher today than when this government came to office—
Alex Belardinelli (@abelardinelli) May 15, 2013

You wouldn’t realise from that tweet that the unemployment rate is actually 0.2% lower: falling from 8% when Gordon left to 7.8% today. The total number of people in employment has risen 880,000 from May 2010. The total number of unemployed has risen by 100,000 from May 2010. With a growing population, Belardinelli knows exactly what he is doing. In reality the facts point to better employment figures today then three years ago, albeit hardly by much more than flatlining. There is spinning and then there is misinformation… 

The two Eds will have been following Alistair Darling’s Lobby lunch very closely this afternoon. Darling laid down the gauntlet to Balls, showing a fair amount of leg about a possible return: “At the moment I’m totally focused on the referendum. After that I’ll see where I stand. I will maintain an interest in wider affairs.” 

Some choice words for Miliband too. Darling says Ed “needs to do more to argue case for staying in the EU”, but at least apparently he’s “doing better than people give him credit for” and there is “no need for line by line manifesto” with two years to go. He was coy on Gordon: “I have never provided a running commentary on any conversations I may or may not have had”, but was willing to jokingly flirt with another foe: “there are times I have been tempted to join UKIP”. The tease…

When the going got tough, Gordon Brown would pull his favourite Macavity trick and disappear. It seems his prodigy Ed Balls has learnt exactly the same trick. There has been a lot of grumbling over the weekend in Labour circles that the Shadow Chancellor all but disappeared in the wake of the local election results and was silent on the airwaves, leaving the mop up to the likes of Chuka and Tom Watson. He managed to Tweet his congratulations to the new MP for South Shields, but apart from that has stuck to local issues in his seat and talking about Shepherd’s Pie. His absence has been noted by more loyal colleagues…

“Is your biggest problem – you are the most annoying man in politics, you live in denial, you smear on behalf of Gordon Brown when you did it, you’re a left wing economist with private education. This is the problem Balls, you don’t listen.”

If Sean from Matfield is anything to go by, Call Balls could become essential Friday morning listening…

Via LBC.

Labour are getting into a spin over this morning’s Indy splash claiming they will pledge to outspend the Tories in 2015. Balls has told LBC the story “is an exclusive but it’s wrong”, blaming a report from the Fabians: “it is not our policy, it is not our position”. As Damian McBride speculates, the Indy front page is manifestly true, Labour just won’t confirm it until they release their manifesto in two years’ time.

I'm struggling to decipher the Indie splash on Lab spending: False flag op by the Blairites? Self-puffery by the Fabians? Or just, er, true?—
Damian McBride (@DPMcBride) April 19, 2013

One thing's for sure: no sensible, loyal person in Labour wants that story out now, so whoever briefed it is either a snake or a half-wit.—
Damian McBride (@DPMcBride) April 19, 2013

Labour pledging to spend more is a case of when rather than if. They say they don’t have a position now, but you can bet the scoop will be confirmed by election day…

As the battle rages between ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ and ‘I’m in Love With Margaret Thatcher’ for the highest chart position, you can always rely on Ed Balls’ spectacular lack of timing for a lighter take on the loony left campaign. Asked by the Standard what he gets up to in his spare time this morning, Balls rather unfortunately replied:

“I’ve been to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria five times in the past three years. I can’t wait to go again…”

As Guido is also a fan of musical theatre, we will let him off this time…

Guido thinks everyone needs cheering up a little. Here’s one way of comparing recent PMs…

In Sunday’s Sun column Guido revealed how a controversial gambling lobbyist was claiming to be a “Business Adviser” to Ed Balls, despite the Shadow Chancellor denying ever having appointed him. Neil Goulden is the chairman of the Association of British Bookmakers, boss of Gala Bingo and the man in charge of the Coral high-street betting shop. He claims to be a “Business Adviser to Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls”, yet that is the first Team Balls have heard of it.

Balls’ spokesman insists to Guido that “Neil has not been appointed as a business adviser to Ed Balls”. Interesting that Balls told industry insiders he wanted to curb his party’s anti-bookies rhetoric at a private dinner organised by Goulden earlier this year. And that Goulden also donated £15,000 to Labour in the run up to the last election. Odds on that we haven’t heard the last of this one…

A name to remember for the run-up to a big 2015 dogfight: the Tories have selected Andrea Jenkyns to take on Ed Balls in Morley and Outwood. The seat was almost the scene of the biggest upset of 2010. Expect Jenkyns’ working class striver credentials to be pushed from now until election day, Jenkyns is a local, comp-educated candidate who runs her own business. Conveniently she says fixing the broken welfare system is her main priority. Balls has a majority of 1,101…