20 October 2023 , 15:22
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Ed Balls has revealed that his kids were so embarrassed by his stint on Strictly Come Dancing that they banned him from attending parents’ evenings at school for two years.
The former shadow chancellor said that when he partnered Katya Jones on the show in 2016 his three kids were aged 13, 15 and 17. Afterwards, they would only let his wife Yvette Cooper, also a Labour politician, speak to their teachers. “I was banned from going to parents' evening for two years after Strictly,” he laughed. “The complication for our kids had been – I was secretary of state for schools 2007-2010 so the headteacher was always quite keen to say hello," he explained.
He added: " I was allowed to come but never in a suit. That was fine until Strictly. I was entirely banned. Yvette had to go and take notes.” At the time older kids Ellie, 17, and Joe, 15, were allowed to watch in the studio but Maddy, 13, was too young. “It multiplied the embarrassment of the whole thing,” he said. “Dads are supposed to be embarrassing - I have massively overachieved, "he added.
Ed Balls performs with Katya Jones on Strictly Come Dancing (TV GRABS /BBC PICTURES) The ex-MP claimed he wasn’t even sure about saying yes to the show but Yvette - now the shadow home secretary - and radio pal Jeremy Vine persuaded him. "I was against doing it but Yvette was the person who said to do it. She said: ‘You’ve lost your seat and you’ve lost your job. What else is there to do?’ She said politics is wild, go and do it.
“I rang Jeremy Vine and he said it was the most life affirming thing he had done and that he has enjoyed it.”
Ed, 56, said he didn’t regret the decision. “It definitely changes things. The idea of politicians not being human beings is a bit dangerous - it has always worried me a bit. People come up to me and say ‘are you Ed Balls?’ They say ‘I used to really really hate you, but I don't any more.’ I know they mean it nicely.”
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Ed Balls was quick to show off his iconic moves as he made a shock cameo in the 2023 series (BBC)
On his kids, he told Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell podcast that he and Cooper were happy to have shielded them from public view and let them just get on with their own lives.
“Our eldest daughter put it incredibly powerfully when she went to secondary,” he recalls. “I remember her saying: 'When I walk across the playground I want to be me first, not the daughter of cabinet ministers.’”
But speaking he admits to still feeling some guilt about the time spent away from his family when they were young. “I don’t think you would ever speak to anybody who has done politics who wouldn’t say: ‘I look back and regret not spending more time with my kids.’”