Ed Balls
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Former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
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Senior Fellow at The Harvard Kennedy School
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Served in the UK Cabinet as Secretary for Children, Schools and Families
Ed Balls was a driving force in British politics for many years and held the position of UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011-2015 — serving in the UK Cabinet as Secretary for Children, Schools and Families.
He was also the UK Minister for Financial Services (2006-2007) and the Chief Economic Adviser to the UK Treasury (1997-2004) during which time, on the international stage, he was Chair of the IMFC Deputies and UK G20 Deputy.
Ed was the Labour & Co-operative Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood (2010-2015) and MP for Normanton (2005-2010). While Shadow Chancellor, he was co-Chair with Larry Summers of the Center for American Progress Inclusive Prosperity Commission. He served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission and is now a member of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation Board.
As Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury (1997-2004), Ed Balls led the design of policies including independence of the Bank of England, the New Deal jobs programme, the Five Tests Euro assessment, Sure Start, tax credits and the national minimum wage. As a Treasury Minister, he was commissioned by the G7 Finance Ministers to prepare a report with Sir Jon Cunliffe (now deputy Governor of the Bank of England) on Economic Aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
At the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Ed brought together schools and children's policy for the first time in the Children's Plan and pushed through radical and progressive policies including raising the education and training age to 18, reform of the social work profession, establishing the support staff negotiating body and extra investment in youth services and short breaks for disabled children and their families.
As Shadow Chancellor, Ed was awarded the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year and the Political Studies Association Politician of the Year.
Ed Balls is a Senior Fellow at The Harvard Kennedy School, Visiting Professor at King’s College London and former Chairman of Norwich City Football Club. Ed was a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Economics, Harvard University (1989-90) and a leader writer and columnist at the Financial Times (1990-94).
He has also written for the Guardian, New Statesman and Tribune and co-authored a number of books, papers, articles and pamphlets including the Sunday Times best seller Speaking Out: Lessons in Life and Politics. He studied economics and philosophy at Keble College, Oxford and economics and politics (MPA) at the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, where he was a Kennedy Scholar.
Ed lives in London and Castleford with his wife, Yvette Cooper MP, and their three children. Ed’s interests include learning the piano, cooking and marathon running. He has run the London Marathon three times, raising over 160,000 for WhizzKidz, a disabled Children’s charity and Action for Stammering Children.
Ed was dubbed ‘The People’s Champion’ after the extraordinary public response to his dance performances in BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. His memorable performance of Gangnam style with partner Katya Jones was nominated for the 2017’s Virgin’s Must-See Moment BAFTA award.
With his 20+ years in politics, Ed Balls provides a unique and candid perspective into the British political landscape and brings with him an acute knowledge on issues such as financial markets, monetary policy, the global economy and the future of Britain outside of the European Union.
Ed is well-placed to debunk myths and confirm fascinating truths about the inner workings of Westminster and the corridors of power. At the forefront of opposition politics his keynote speeches offer extraordinary insight and thought, whereas his after dinner presentations are a more relaxed, humorous and anecdotal insight into the political and personal life of one of the UK’s most charismatic political figures.
I just wanted to drop you a note to thank you personally for talking at our conference last Thursday.
It was an excellent event and I have received a lot of very positive feedback from our members. One attendee wrote to me afterwards and said: “It was also refreshing to have a (former) politician and economist make an honest and open keynote of intellectual and pragmatic substance - with some humour interspersed - rather than just a series of anecdotes as is so often the case! Great end to the proceedings!
There was a real buzz in the room over drinks after - super positive vibes and comments!” I much appreciated you following the brief to give the audience some thoughts on the potential impact of a Labour administration and I think our members will hopefully have found your thoughts reassuring on the importance of financial services and the important role they can play in helping drive economic growth which we so badly need.
I just wanted pass on our sincere thanks for Ed Balls participating in our event, I think we can definitely say he was received very well by our audience and we are really grateful for the additional time Ed spent with everyone before and after his session.
I know a lot of speakers would not have invested this additional time. I will be delighted to recommend him for other speaking opportunities.
The conference was a great success, and Ed was the perfect way to round off the day. He really captured the light-hearted, relaxed feel of the evening, and had the audience enraptured the whole way through. He did a fab job and was incredibly well received.
Thank you for the hugely valuable part you played in our Leaders’ Forum. This was a new format for us that relied on enthusiastic, insightful and articulate speakers and you passed with flying colours! We have had very positive feedback and I greatly appreciate all the time and thought you put in to our event.
Ed was even better than we had hoped he would be. Engaging, open, honest, funny and very interesting. Please pass on our thanks to him.
On behalf of all of us at Jefferies I would like to thank you for your excellent speech last night at The Ned and for being so generous with your time afterwards. You managed to get the tone exactly right for the occasion.
We have received lots of complimentary messages from people who were there and I think you have won a number of new fans. It was a huge pleasure to meet you.
Ed was fantastic without doubt one of the best they’ve had over the years. He was charming, funny, polite and accommodating. His speech hit exactly the right note, he even managed to bring soft drinks into it. He touched on strictly and politics. He did a Q&A which went on for ages and had some random questions all of which he answered without hesitation.
He posed for lots of photos, the women in the room absolutely loved him and he had a lot of Strictly posed photos. She asked if she could get him a car at the end and he said no don’t worry I’ll hop on the tube. They were so impressed with him.
On behalf of all of us at Jefferies I would like to thank you for your excellent speech last night at The Ned and for being so generous with your time afterwards.
You managed to get the tone exactly right for the occasion. We have received lots of complimentary messages from people who were there and I think you have won a number of new fans. It was a huge pleasure to meet you.
Clients often ask about purchasing books for giveaways and delegate packs. Below you’ll find a selection of products by Ed Balls. Click the images to view on Amazon's website. For bulk orders, please speak with your Booking Agent.
How to book Ed Balls for your event
To book Ed Balls, please submit an online enquiry to booking.agent@nmp.co.uk or contact one of our booking agents on +44 (0)20 3822 0003.
TV presenter, political commentator and former Conservative cabinet minister
The most forensic interviewer in political broadcasting
Broadcaster, presenter and journalist (BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine on 5)
Broadcaster, journalist former BBC Chief Political Correspondent from 1988-2000
Vice-President of the World Bank, 2003-2006
Speaker of the House of Commons, 2009-2019
