I don’t agree with Ed Balls on everything, but he’s by far the best leader of the Labour party we’ve got on offer. He’s also the best leader the Labour party has got to offer its more leftwing membership.

And Westminster's Idle Question of the Day is: will Ed Balls be made shadow chancellor under a Miliband leadership? There are good arguments both for and against the proposition – and most of them are made in this blog post by the Guardian's Nicholas Watt. Even Blairites, he says, are warming to the idea of Balls running Labour's economic policy. But if it's to happen und...

A day before the ballot papers get sent out, and the grey corpse that was the Labour leadership contest has suddenly leapt into a crazy jig. Ed Balls is slamming the "soap opera" of the Mili-rivalry, while calling for more social housing. Andy Burnham is insisting that he's still in with a chance of winning. Alan Johnson has - with a nod to Jose Mourinho, of all people - labelled Da...

Labour leadership candidate Ed Balls criticises the "daily episodes" of the "soap opera" surrounding fellow contenders Ed and David Miliband.

Labour leadership contender Ed Balls will call today for an extra £6 billion to be invested to build an additional 100,000 affordable homes.

Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, wants to challenge the idea that there is no real alternative to one of the clean-cut Miliband brothers as leader of the Labour party

from UNISON’s magazine  Like you, I’m proud of Labour’s legacy – the minimum wage, Sure Start children’s centres, new hospitals, civil partnerships and devolution. But I’m aware of the disappointments too. At times the Labour government seemed to lose touch with the people we represent and almost wage war on public servants. That was wrong and we

Andy Burnham, David Miliband, Diane Abbott, Ed Balls and Ed Miliband answer the FT's questions on restoring trust in politics, cutting the deficit and UK immigration

The Spectator's Peter Hoskin doesn't like the idea of extending the 50p top rate of tax to earnings over £100,000 (rather than £150,000) though he rather jumps the gun in suggesting that "it’s fairly probable that this will be official Labour policy in the not-too-distant". Hoskin suggests that Ed Miliband has joined Ed Balls and Diane Abbott in advocating this policy. Of...

Labour members need to know how each of the leadership contenders will approach the economy - not just in countering the narrative that harsh cuts are needed immediately, but how they would like to re-model the economy in wake of the financial crisis. So Ed Miliband's article today suggests that his policies are aligning closely with that of Ed Balls.