Published: January 23rd 2011 - at 4:12 pm

As Ed Balls takes up the key role of Shadow Chancellor for the Labour Opposition, in many ways the politician he most resembles is US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Here are five parallels between the two.

1. Scenes from a political marriage: Both Balls and Clinton have faced the challenge of establishing their own political identities having first exercised influence as unelected players in a powerful political partnership. Hillary spent eight years in the White House as First Lady, while the Brown-Balls era from 1997 to 2004 was the closest thing to a political marriage the Treasury is likely to see.

2. Champions of the tribe: Both Clinton and Balls both have public reputations as polarising politicians, not afraid of political combat. Clinton controversially hit back at a “vast right-wing conspiracy”. Balls has been the Labour figure keenest to take on the Conservatives. On the major political clashes of the day – the ‘culture wars’ in the US; the deficit argument in Britain – they have been the figures most associated with their partisan position by both supporters and opponents. (Given Balls’ key role in shaping New Labour’s macroeconomic strategy, it is a relatively novel experience for him to be so vociferously championed by the party’s Keynesian left).

3. The incumbency disadvantage: Both Clinton and Balls were unsuccessful in their bids to lead their parties – in the 2008 Democratic primaries and the 2010 Labour leadership race – because of a perception of incumbency. That they were perceived to offer continuity rather than change, enabling internal opponents to mobilise new cohorts of activists and members in particular. (Though Balls was never the frontrunner, unlike Clinton, and so Ed Miliband campaign’s riff on a ‘movement versus the machine’ theme with younger party members was aimed primarily at framing David Miliband as the candidate of the party establishment).

4. The value of expertise: Balls and Clinton also share a reputation for experience and expertise. Clinton’s global profile and network has assisted her diplomacy as Secretary of State. Balls is acknowledged by friend and foe to be Labour’s most formidable economist (with even his sometime adversary Tony Blair paying tribute to Balls as “really able” in his memoir).

5. The team of rivals: Ed Miliband has, by both personal inclination and political circumstance, followed a similar “team of rivals” approach to that of Obama, (channelling Lincoln). The close leadership result saw Miliband place emphasis initially on the supporters of his brother.

However, the successful Obama-Clinton partnership in the current US administration would perhaps provide a closer analogy to a David Miliband-Ed Balls alliance than this one between the two Eds. There is something of a contradiction between those fretting about a repeat of Blair-Brown tensions between the two Eds and another group worrying about a so-called Brownite takeover. The first group worries that the two Eds won’t see eye-to-eye and the second group that they are too similar.

Indeed, a “team of rivals” approach to pluralism at Labour’s top table would be strengthened if Ed Miliband were to succeed in bringing both David Miliband and Jon Cruddas back to the political frontline as the next election looms.

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A longer version is at Next Left

About the author
Sunder Katwala is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He is the director of British Future, a think-tank addressing identity and integration, migration and opportunity. He was formerly secretary-general of the Fabian Society.
· Other posts by Sunder Katwala


Story Filed Under: Blog ,Labour party ,Westminster

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