What is Ed Balls up to these days? The new Norwich City FC chairman swapped Marr and Brillo on BBC1 for ten minutes on the sofa with BT Sport’s Fletch & Sav this weekend. Balls says he’s done with politics for good:
“I did 20 years in politics and I’m done with politics, I’m out now, I’m not expecting to go back, I don’t think I’ll ever be re-elected again.”
Before Robbie Savage brilliantly asked: “So, what made you leave Parliament?”
“The electorate, general election, people vote – I was an MP for 10 years but at the last general election I lost my constituency up in Leeds to the Conservatives. David Cameron got a majority, George Osborne is still the Chancellor, I’m chairman of Norwich City, so the question is – who got the better deal?”
Well, Norwich lost 5-4 in the 90th minute on Saturday to sink to 17th in the league, so…
Not every day John McDonnell quotes Guido stories in the Commons chamber, though he clearly enjoyed our scoop on George Osborne’s helicopter trips to fundraising dinners:
“He’ll jump into a helicopter for a Tory fundraiser, but it’s taken him four months to lift a finger to save steelworkers’ jobs.”
Heli freezes over…
Piers Morgan enjoyably skewered Jack Dromey over his tedious support for the Trump ban on Good Morning Britain.
On whether he’d ban Putin, Dromey replied: “No I wouldn’t.“
On a ban for head-chopping Saudi King Salman: “No, I wouldn’t ban him.”
What about Robert Mugabe? “No.”
Almost as if the ban-happy crowd haven’t thought this through.
Chris Grayling will be delighted to have been named the “leader of the Out campaign” by Chris Bryant at Business questions. Grayling writes in today’s Telegraph that the EU is “disastrous” for Britain:
“Most people in Westminster know that I hold strong Eurosceptic views. It is time for Britain to vote again on its future in Europe… I am someone who believes that simply staying in the EU with our current terms of membership unchanged would be disastrous for Britain. That’s why I have always believed that it is imperative that his renegotiation takes place and delivers as much potential change as possible. It is in the interests of all Eurosceptics and of our country. I want Britain to choose between a changed relationship and leaving, and not between the current situation and leaving.”
To paraphrase Bryant, he’s the first Cabinet minister to come out since yesterday…
The wonk world transfer window is open and Guido hears the Institute of Economic Affairs are about to make a show-stopping signing. Readers will recognise 25 year-old Kate Andrews from her regular crusades for the cause of freedom on Sky News, which have made her something of a wunderkind of the right. A Texan Newcastle United supporter, Kate is moving from the Adam Smith Institute to the IEA next month to work on their digital content, “unless she is flagged up as a national security risk” by the immigration authorities. The IEA bolstered its ranks before Christmas by taking on Nissy Chesterfield from Business for Britain to do comms. The merry-go-round begins…
After the wheels came off the Farage assassination attempt story, Nige tells LBC he probably shouldn’t have spoken to the papers about the story. He did also tell LBC on Sunday that “someone clearly had loosened the wing nuts on all four of the tires of my car”. UKIP are convinced the details of the incident were leaked out by a senior anti-Farage figure in the party…
