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In a day of mixed fortunes for Labour's golden couple, Ed Balls lost his battle to be Chancellor but his wife Yvette Cooper was in line for promotion.
Mr Balls remains Children's Secretary after Alistair Darling convinced Gordon Brown to keep him at the Treasury.
Ms Cooper, 40, pictured today, was believed to be moving from Chief Secretary at the Treasury to take over from James Purnell as Work and Pensions Secretary. But last-minute wrangling was still going on at lunchtime over plum jobs.
Although not as big a promotion as to health, if she is made Work and Pensions Secretary she will still play an even more prominent role in the attempt to stop the recession undermining Labour.
With unemployment rising sharply, photogenic Ms Cooper would be on the GMTV sofa even more often explaining what the Government is doing to help families and save jobs in the downturn.
Talk of Mr Balls, 42, becoming Chancellor was understood to be so advanced that he and his wife were said to have already decided that they would not move into No11 with their three children. The failure to clinch the top Treasury job is a blow to Mr Balls, who is Mr Brown's most trusted confidante but is also seen as a divisive figure by many backbenchers. He may be given a consolation prize of an enhanced brief.
Mr Balls was chief economic adviser at the Treasury before becoming MP for Normanton in 2005. In 1998 he married Ms Cooper. a fellow former journalist, who has represented the neighbouring constituency of Pontefract and Castlesford since 1997.
The couple, who commute each week with their children from London to their northern constituencies, have ridden out the storm over their second home expenses.
Reader views (2)
Mock them if you will but loyalty is a rare thing nowadays especially in that den of vipers.
- Tony ,Essex, Harlow,UK
You've got to feel sorry for balls and cooper. All that brown nosing and just when the prize is within their grasp, they're going to spend the rest of their careers in opposition! In fact scratch that, I don't feel sorry for this odious couple at all!!
- Chris, Brighton, England
