Red Balls! Knives are out for humiliated Ed: Day of mockery for the shadow chancellor who still can't accept he was wrong
#RedEd was trending on Twitter today as he suffered in the Commons
Labour source admitted point 'was not made well in the chamber today'
George Osborne says Balls should have gone to piano exam instead
Pair clash as figures show growth of 1.4% this year, up from 0.6% forecast
The knives were out for Ed Balls last night as Labour MPs denounced his performance as one of the worst they have seen in the Commons.
Red-faced and shouting, the Shadow Chancellor faced mockery as he refused to acknowledge rising growth and continued to insist that he was right to oppose austerity all along.
Labour MPs last night questioned whether their party’s focus on the cost of living was enough to win them the election without a better economic message.
One accused Mr Balls of having ‘f***** up’ Labour’s economic policy with his refusal to change course despite signs that the economy is improving.
Others questioned whether he should be sacked if Labour are to convince voters they can be trusted with the economy.
Mr Balls was greeted with a roar of derision from across the House when he claimed that it was the Chancellor who was ‘in complete denial’ about the state of the economy.
Mr Osborne hit back, saying: ‘The man who said that borrowing wouldn’t come down, unemployment wouldn’t come down, growth wouldn’t happen and the man who refuses to apologise for what he did to the British economy – he is the very epitome of denial.’
The Chancellor branded Mr Balls’s speech ‘a turkey’ and mercilessly ribbed him over his decision to cancel a grade three piano exam because it clashed with the Autumn Statement.
‘He probably should have gone ahead with his Chopsticks routine,’ Mr Osborne said.
Labour leader Ed Miliband grimaced as Mr Balls yelled himself hoarse, while Labour MPs sat mute and grim-faced behind him.
A senior Labour source admitted the party’s case on the economy ‘was not made well in the chamber today’.
One Labour MP went further, saying: ‘He f***** it up. I was watching it thinking “we are f*****”.
‘He’s supposed to be a bright bloke, but there was no analysis of the Autumn Statement in what he said. Ed Miliband should really have sacked him in the last reshuffle. It was a sign of weak leadership that he didn’t.’
Doubts about Mr Balls came as it emerged that former Labour Cabinet Minister Baroness Armstrong has privately said the approach of Mr Balls and Mr Miliband will leave the party ‘in deep shtook’.
Another Labour insider said Mr Balls would keep his job but should change course.
‘That is two quite shocking performances that he has turned in in his last two big appearances,’ the source said. ‘But what is concerning people is not just the performance.
‘There are lots of people in the Shadow Cabinet saying that the cost of living stuff is fine – but it’s not enough. It’s probably too late to move him now but today was a reality check.’
One Blairite said MPs were likely to demand a rethink of Labour’s economic policies in the coming days. ‘I’ll be amazed if you don’t see the New Labour elements start to say that we need something more than cost of living issues.’
Mr Balls tried to put a brave face on his performance. He said: ‘I’ve got a bit of a sore throat. It was very, very loud. There are a lot of working people in this country who are seeing their living standards falling and no one to speak for them. I’m not going to allow 300 Tory MPs to shout me down.’