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Ed Balls is Gordon Brown's closest political ally and wields immense influence behind the scenes at No10.
He was hired by Mr Brown in 1994 when he was a leader writer at the Financial Times.
Aged just 30 when Labour swept to power, he became Mr Brown's enforcer at the Treasury and rode roughshod over senior civil servants who resisted the new Chancellor's reforms.
His early success was as co-architect of the decision to give the Bank of England independence over interest rates. But he is now blamed for drawing up the tripartite system of financial regulation that lamentably failed to prevent the banking excesses leading to the credit crunch.
He also pressed for the promotion of Sir Gus O'Donnell, from Treasury economist to Permanent Secretary and now Cabinet Secretary. It was crucial for Mr Brown gaining control over the Treasury and the then Chancellor was grateful.
The son of a zoologist, he attended a fee-paying grammar school and shone at Oxford and Harvard. He is married to Treasury Chief Secretary Yvette Cooper.
In 2007 he was given the newly created position of Schools and Children Secretary, a post that gave him a more family-friendly image.
However, he has long hoped to return to the Treasury as Chancellor - although some officials still nursing bruises from his last posting might disagree.
Mr Balls shares his mentor's intellectual brilliance and style of strategic thinking. And like Mr Brown he is obsessed with "dividing lines" to corner opponents. Critics say he also inherited the Prime Minister's control freakery.
They also say Mr Balls has his boss's poor communications skills and point to his habit of blinking during television interviews.
He often talks in economic jargon and coined Mr Brown's infamous commitment to "neoclassical endogenous growth theory". This triggered Michael Heseltine's jibe: "It's not Brown's. It's Balls."
Reader views (1)
"Ed Balls wields immense influence"
Not with me, he doesn't.
- Dee Jay, Fleet Hampshire, 02/06/2009 13:11
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