Ed Balls, champion heckler, complains about heckling

Chris Leslie popped up on the Daily Politics today to complain about the way Ed Balls was received in the Chamber when he responded to the Autumn Statement. Asked why Balls made such a horlicks of yesterday’s performance, Leslie said:

‘Well, there are plenty of Conservatives who would like to say that, in fact there were 350 or so odd Conservative MPs barracking and jeering, and I defy anybody to try and get their voice heard in that environment.’

Andrew Neil then told Leslie that he had received three separate off-the-record briefings against Ed Balls from Labour aides, some of whom were close to Ed Miliband. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury replied:

‘Well, er, er, it’s always off the record, isn’t it? I mean, this is the thing, there’s all sorts of people you might want to quote but until you can tell me… I’m glad you played the clip because first of all it showed Ed Balls communicating it very loud and clear that this is a Chancellor who is out of touch with the cost of living crisis and he also very loud and clear made the point that this is a Chancellor who wants to be congratulated for failing to meet his plan to balance the books in 2015.’