Balls steps into the spotlight

Labour has lost a shadow chancellor who spoke fluent human and gained one who speaks fluent economics and practises raw political aggression too.

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Alan Johnson was picked for the job because the former postman who rose to be his union's leader and then a cabinet minister could connect with the working class voters Labour had lost touch with and yet was a Blairite who worried about government spending too much. That is why he will be sorely missed.

In his place comes Ed Balls - the obvious choice for the job given his economic training, his experience as a Treasury adviser and minister and his passion for the fight. Yet those are exactly the reasons Ed Miliband snubbed him for it the first time round.

The Tories will portray the new shadow chancellor as the "son of Brown", responsible for failing to regulate the banks and for spending too much public money. They will highlight his publicly stated opposition to the deficit reduction plans of the last Labour government and they will delight in trying to drive a wedge between two Eds who once worked together under Gordon Brown but did not always get on.

As Alan Johnson leaves the political stage Ed Balls is thrust into the spotlight. He will love it. Whatever they say his opponents fear him. They will hope, however, that Labour's leader will fear him even more.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/01/balls_steps_into_the.html

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