Ed Balls 

Ed Balls is a broadcaster, writer and economist. He is Professor of Political Economy at King’s College, London, a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, co-Chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and Vice-President and former Chairman of Norwich City Football Club. His popular BBC TV series ‘Travels in Trumpland: with Ed Balls’ was broadcast in July 2018 and a second series ‘Travels in Euroland with Ed Balls’ aired on BBC2 in January 2020. Ed also co-presented the BBC TV series ‘What Britain Buys and Sells in a Day’. Ed was part of the core ITN Election night in 2017, 2019 and 2024 and broadcasts regularly on BBC’s the One Show, Radio 2 and Radio 4.

Ed, a former Member of Parliament, was UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2011-15) and served in the UK Cabinet as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2077-2010). He was the UK Minister for Financial Services (2006-07) and the Chief Economic Adviser to the UK Treasury (1997-2004) during which time he was Chair of the IMFC Deputies and UK G20 Deputy. While Shadow Chancellor he was co-Chair with Larry Summers of the Center for American Progress Inclusive Prosperity Commission.

Ed is married to Yvette Cooper MP. They have three children and live in London and Castleford. His interests include learning the piano, running, cooking, sailing and supporting Norwich City. Ed was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing 2016 and was nominated for a Bafta for TV moment of the year in 2016 and as part of the ITN General Election team in 2017 and 2019.

In February 2019, Ed climbed Kilimanjaro with eight other well-known climbers, raising over £2m for Comic Relief.

Ed’s book ‘Speaking Out: Lessons in Life and Politics’ is published by Penguin Random House and was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.