Shadow chancellor puts his hand in his pocket

Maxwell Kusi Obodum • Published 29 Mar 2012 17:30 6 Comments

IN these austere times you would have expected shadow chancellor Ed Balls to tighten his belt when he visited Reading today.

But the senior Labour politician splashed out 60p - soon to be the price of a solitary first class stamp - and bought a copy of the Chronicle from the Earley Express Premier newsagents in Wokingham Road, east Reading.

Mr Balls, who cheerfully chatted with staff and customers, made the surprise visit to the store during his visit to nearby Alfred Sutton Primary school to discuss with parents picking up their children there how the Westminster Coalition Government's cuts are squeezing family budgets.

One breaking news story which immediately caught his eye was our front page article headlined "Tory sues his party leaders" about Peppard ward councillor Jamie Chowdhary's shock decision to take legal action against the Conservatives.

Mr Balls joked: "What's going on with these Tories?"

For more see next week's Reading Midweek and Reading Chronicle.

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 29 Mar 12

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• 

  Kenneth Dope
  Unregistered User
  Mar 29, 17:53
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  "What's going on with these Tories?"
  
  Oh I don't know Ed, probably trying to clean up the economic mess Labour left the UK in. As opposed to pointless PR stunts in a newsagents. Rather than browsing a future chip wrapper and picking up 20 B&H why not have a photo shoot holding a baby; far less clichéd than pretending to be "one of the people"...
  
  Recommend?   Yes 32     No 11

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  BarbaraC
  Unregistered User
  Mar 29, 18:15
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  Urgh this man makes me sick! If I knew he was in Reading I'd have given him a piece of my mind - the blinking hypocrite!
  
  Recommend?   Yes 35     No 6

• 

  Automatic
  Unregistered User
  Mar 30, 09:38
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  Nice to see Labour resorting to Rosette bra's; now that is desperation...
  
  Recommend?   Yes 14     No 2

• 

  oldshepherd
  14 posts
  Mar 30, 11:36
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  I wonder if Balls explained why the last labour government bequethed the worst defecit in our history and the consequent programme of cuts that will last for years?
  
  Bet he did not.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 13     No 2

• 

  ******
  Mar 30, 16:36
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• 

  Kat5
  Unregistered User
  Mar 30, 21:21
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  "Mr Balls, who cheerfully chatted with staff and customers" More like Mr Balls harassed some young boys while they were buying some crisps and took up the whole of the newsagents with his photographers, then going on to block the pavement outside the primary school.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 5     No 1

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  DPDance
  2 posts
  Apr 1, 17:03
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  I expect that he will claim in on expenses
  
  Recommend?   Yes 4     No 1

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  ******
  Apr 6, 15:15
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