He’s been shadow chancellor, and he wowed the crowds on Strictly. Now Ed Balls has written a book that’s part memoir, part cookbook. He talks about kitchen confidence, failing at diets – and why politics is still a hot subject for him
Ed Balls is unhappy about the mess. They say you can judge a cook by how he cleans and Britain’s one-time education minister, shadow chancellor of the exchequer and most popular Gangnam Style tribute act is surrounded by broken shells, tiramisu, pasta sauce, soup and – to his mind most offensively – runny custard in a hard pastry base. There are Le Creusets and frying pans and bowls and sieves, the detritus of any self-respecting cookery photoshoot.
“It’s very upsetting,” Balls, 54, protests, brandishing a creamy whisk. “I’m a clean-as-you-go chef. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. This is more like Yvette’s kitchen,” he adds, throwing his wife, Yvette Cooper MP, under the slovenly bus. “She’s like a snail, you can see wherever she’s been. It’s one of the reasons she doesn’t cook. At a certain point I just decided it was easier for me to do it.”