Balls

So Alan Johnson has resigned as Shadow Chancellor out of love for his Civil Servant mistress and if the stories are to be believed it was Balls's special adviser who let the cat out the bag about twice married Johnson's affair. I am not sure whether Johnson resigned because he knew the affair was going to become public or whether the information about it was made public after he had decided to go. It would be logical to assume that Johnson knew the story was about to break anyway and that was why he resigned. In any event it has worked out well for Ed Balls who thinks he is cleverer than any other politician and that his view of the benefits of state intervention are those that should be imposed on the country. After all he does not agree that the deficit was caused by policies he and his boss Brown pursued. More objective observers however believe differently. There is no doubt that Balls is combative and that the Coalition will have to squash him continuously (after all the price of freedom is eternal vigilance or in this case clever and effective put downs) but there is also no doubt that he does not have the most attractive of personalities. He has the air of a bully and of someone who is not quite straight. It will be interesting to see how Osborne copes with him.