After his much-panned response to George Osborne’s Autumn Statement, Ed Balls enjoyed a better outing at today’s Treasury questions. Noting that Osborne had claimed that living standards were rising (based on the flawed “real household disposable income measure”), but that the IFS had subsequently said that they were falling, he asked Danny Alexander (who stood in for the absent Osborne): “who’s right?” After quipping that it was a “pleasure” to see the shadow chancellor in his place and mockingly condemning the “unattributable briefing” against him from the Labour benches, Alexander could only reply that “the whole reason why millions of Britons are under financial pressure is because Labour’s economic mess cost every household in this country £3,000”. But while voters might have accepted this line in 2010, they are less likely to do so after three years of stagnation.
Balls then noted that Osborne was away in Brussels, where “the government is taking legal action to stop a cap on bank bonuses”, and asked: “are the Liberal Democrats really right behind the Conservatives on this one too?” Alexander replied by joking that the shadow chancellor had “appointed a new special adviser on hand gestures – Greg Dyke” (a reference to Dyke’s cut-throat gesture), adding: “at least that’s the gesture his colleagues are making every time they hear him in the House.” One was left with the impression that Alexander was more interested in cracking pre-prepared gags than in responding to Balls’s questions.
The shadow chancellor undoubtedly has his critics in Labour. Some MPs believe that he remains too defensive over the record of the last Labour government and too preoccupied with proving that he was right about austerity. Others, on the Blue Labour wing of the party, argue that he is insufficiently committed to Miliband’s reformist agenda (one told me that he was a “conventional Brownite” who “doesn’t really buy responsible capitalism”). But after his strong performance today and his defiant interview (stating in response to briefing: “I couldn’t give a toss”) on Sky, the odds on him being replaced as shadow chancellor will lengthen again. As Miliband recognises, there is no one else with the rare combination of political cunning and economic aptitude required to do the job.
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