Ed Balls talks Norwich City - and what he thinks of this year's Strictly contestants

Since leaving politics he’s carved out a multi-hyphenate career for himself as a professor of political economy at King’s College London, TV presenter, documentary maker and author.

Running through his diary for the next few days, he’s lecturing on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday he’ll be talking politics alongside George Osborne on The Andrew Neil Show.

Then from Monday to Wednesday his alarm will be set for 3.45am to get him to the Good Morning Britain studio ready to bring the nation the issues of the day over their cornflakes.

When the credits roll this Wednesday (November 9), he’s got a 45-minute power nap scheduled in before he sets off to Norwich for a fundraising event for the Friends of Norwich Cathedral.

He will be in conversation with the cathedral’s Master of Music, Ashley Grote, exploring their mutual admiration of the work of choral composer Herbert Howells.

“Choral music was a big part of my growing up,” Ed says. “My mum and dad met when they were teenagers in the choir of Holy Trinity Church just off the Unthank Road - my mum’s dad was the butcher on Unthank Road and my dad lived just round the corner in Hill Street.”

He was introduced to Howells’ work when he was studying at Oxford.

“When I was 18, I went to Keble College where they have a really good choir and one day there as a particular piece of music that was amazing,” he recalls.

“I asked somebody what it was and they said was Herbert Howells and that I should go and by this particular CD and I did. I’ve been listening to Howells ever since, he’s been a constant companion of mine for the last 35 years, I listen to some Howells most days.”

When the BBC asked Ed to take part in Radio 4’s Great Lives, in which a guest chooses to talk about someone who’s been influential in their life who has passed away, he chose Howells.

“I think they thought I was going to choose Denis Healey, the former Labour chancellor,” he says.

It led to a programme he is currently working on for Radio 3, where he will conduct a choir as it performs one of Howells’ works and Ashley – who Ed describes as a “rising star of English cathedral music” - will play the organ.

Wednesday’s event at the cathedral will be preceded by the opportunity to hear some of Howells’ works performed by the choir during evensong at 5.30pm.

“We came up with the idea that we would do it with Ashley and myself together and have a conversation about the different ways in which we’ve been involved with the cathedral over our lifetimes and also the importance of Herbert Howells in both of our lives,” says Ed.

“These are very, very wild historic times. So, after music and the cathedral we can talk about who’s going to win Strictly, are Norwich going to get promoted to the Premier League, is Rishi Sunak still going to be the prime minister in January - there’s so much to talk about.”

Ed spent his early years in Norwich, before the family moved to Nottingham. Born into a family which had supported Norwich City for generations, he dreamed of playing for the Canaries.

During his career as a Labour politician, Ed was chief economic advisor to the treasury, secretary of state for children, schools and families and shadow chancellor of the exchequer. He and his wife, Yvette Cooper, were the first married couple in British history to be in the Cabinet together.

As well as Good Morning Britain and the Andrew Neil Show, his eclectic post-politics TV CV includes appearances on gameshows including Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel and Richard Osman’s House of Games, researching his deep Norfolk roots on Who Do You Think You Are?, winning Celebrity Best Home Cook (and writing the food-themed autobiography, Appetite), a number of travelogues and the poignant series Inside the Care Crisis with Ed Balls, in which he spent a fortnight as a care worker in a residential home.

But, of course, it was his memorable stint on Strictly Come Dancing which put him well on the road to national treasure status.

Well that, and the time he accidentally tweeted his name on social media, which led to April 28 becoming known as Ed Balls Day.

Fully embracing the spirit of the show in all its sequinned, spray-tanned glory, Ed was partnered with Katya Jones.

And while they didn’t get to lift the glitterball trophy, their salsa to Gangnam Style went down in Strictly history as one of the show’s all-time greatest dances.

Once you’ve joined the Strictly family, you’re part of it forever, and Ed will be appearing on the companion show It Takes Two in the next few weeks to talk about the class of 2022.

“I think it’s a brilliant series this series,” he says. “Helen Skelton was always going to be good and she’s really gaining confidence. I also think Fleur East is brilliant. And Ellie Simmonds is doing so well – the way she and her partner, Nikita, have bound together in a partnership is inspiring and brilliant.”

And there’s one contestant whose journey he is particularly identifying with.

“Tony Adams was so nervous at the start and I know how that feels – to stand there, thinking ‘why am I doing this?’. But Katya is tough and brilliant and her choreography is great. You don’t think of Tony Adams, the Arsenal centre-back as a flower, but it’s like watching a flower opening, and I think he’s doing really well.”

It was Strictly that gave him the taste for live TV, and stood him in good stead for Good Morning Britain, which he co-hosts with Susanna Reid.

“The fundamental thing is, if it goes wrong people like you more, especially when they see the real you and it’s funny - and the same thing is true on Good Morning Britain,” he says.

“I have a stammer and so once a show I will read the autocue wrong, and to begin with I thought oh my goodness if the words don’t come out right because of my stammer that would be a bad thing and actually it doesn’t matter at all, everyone knows it’s me and that’s authentic.

“The first couple of times I did it I would feel as I used to do the first week of Strictly, that sinking feeling in my stomach - and now when they’re counting down the final 10 seconds, I think here we go and it’s actually really exciting and I love it.”

While he never got the call up to play for his beloved Norwich City, Ed was the club’s chairman from 2015-2018 and still gets to as many matches as his schedule will allow.

What are his thoughts on the team’s fortunes this season?

“I have been to a lot of games so far. I didn’t go to QPR on Wednesday, but I was at Stoke on Saturday and I was also in the away end at Sheffield United the weekend before when we drew two all,” he says.

“I share the frustration of many fans, but I think actually they’re a really good squad and when they kick in, they are really good. I think the first 25 minutes against Sheffield and the second half against Stoke was really top quality Norwich.

"There’s something so far this season where it may have just been to do with injuries and still trying to find the right team, there have been so many times when they’ve not looked as though they’re playing as well as the way we all know they can and I’ve been to lots of games where we’ve won and actually, we made it hard. I’m an optimist and I like the squad and I’m right behind Dean Smith and I think this is going to gel and that this is going to be a great season for Norwich. I’m an optimist.”

On his regular visits back to the city, Ed visits his mum, Carolyn, who now lives in a care home, and he and his dad, Michael, enjoy walks by the river.

“Every time I come on the train and the train leaves Diss you know that in 10 minutes’ time the train will slow and you’ll look to the left and see Carrow Road and I don’t think I’ve ever lost the excitement of seeing the football ground coming into the city.

“I was in the government for 13 years and I always felt an excitement walking up Downing Street and I always feel the same way when I pass Carrow Road coming into Norwich on the train, that’s a very special moment.”

Ed Balls and Ashley Grote will be in conversation at Norwich Cathedral on Wednesday, November 9, at 7pm. Tickets cost £20 and can be bought from the Friends of Norwich Cathedral by emailing friends@cathedral.org.uk or phoning 01603 218317. Admission to Choral Evensong, which starts at 5.30pm, is free.