by Kevin Meagher

‘You are only a man’ servants used to whisper in the ears of Roman generals to stop them believing their own hype on their triumphant return from battle.

It’s a pity no-one ever performed a similar service for Ed Balls.

The former shadow chancellor, who was unceremoniously ejected by the people of Morley and Outwood at the last election, is rematerializing into British politics, with a new book out about his life in politics and some unsolicited advice for the party.

The extracts show Balls for what he is: a clever and effective politician in many ways. Unfortunately for him, his curse is hubris.

His period as shadow chancellor under Ed Miliband was an unmitigated disaster for Labour.

Routinely 20 points behind Cameron and Osborne throughout the last parliament on questions of economic competence and trust, it was clear three years out from the election that the party was stone-cold dead on the economy.

His associations with the dog-days of Gordon Brown’s government meant Balls – so long his factotum at the Treasury – was an insane choice for the role.

He was a constant, corporeal reminder of Labour’s previous mistakes, which the party in government did so little to contextualise when it had the chance.

But he coveted the job when Alan Johnson, Miliband’s original shadow chancellor, quit. Pride got the better of him and he simply wasn’t slick enough to shake off previous form to win a second hearing.

At no point did he manage to alter the terms of political debate.

Labour spent too much and regulated too little. They didn’t fix the roof when the sun was shining. They maxed out the credit card. They have no long-term economic plan. The blows rained down on Labour’s reputation and Ed Balls was not equal to the task of rebutting them.

Not helped by repeatedly failing on the big occasions. Invariably, Balls under-performed in every parliamentary set-pieces encounter with George Osborne.

It meant Labour went into the last election with a leader and shadow chancellor who were both utterly mistrusted and disbelieved on the economy – the central, defining issue of the campaign.

If Balls was as smart as he thinks he is, he would have recognised all this and volunteered to remove himself from the job and slot in elsewhere on the frontbench. Who knows, back in government, he may have ended up in Number 11 at some future reshuffle.

But as it was, with Balls in situ, the party ended up flattened by a steamroller. At any time, he could have stepped aside and let a fresher face have a go at selling Labour’s economic message.

But he didn’t. He was busy measuring the drapes in the Treasury. Personal ambition got the better of him every time.

Of course, the other option would have been for Miliband to simply sack him, in the assured way Theresa May did to George Osborne when it was clear he too was a liability.

In October 2014, Uncut reported that a move to replace Balls as shadow chancellor had foundered. Miliband was too weak to insist and Balls too resistant to go. But it was the obvious tactic for the benefit of all involved. Balls included.

His explanation now for losing the last election is that the party “didn’t deserve” to win.

We await the full book to see if there is more personal contrition, but I think it’s safe to say the tens of thousands of activists who flogged their guts out making four million contacts with voters don’t feel the same. They did what was asked of them.

The two Eds lost last year’s election for Labour. Centre-forwards who couldn’t score. Sales directors who never sold anything.

Clever backroom boys who never convinced as the main act. By losing an election Labour had a decent chance of winning, they facilitated Labour’s demise into irrelevance.

Let’s hope that as he tries to rehabilitate himself courtesy of his forthcoming appearance on Strictly Come Dancing that his performance is not affected by previously shooting off his own foot.

It could have all been so different if his advisers had simply whispered in his ear: ‘You are only a man.

‘And pretty bloody useless as shadow chancellor, so change jobs.’

Kevin Meagher is associate editor of Uncut

Tags: economic competence, Ed Balls, Ed Miliband, Kevin Meagher, shadow chancellor, Strictly Come Dancing