Shadow chancellor takes 56% of the popular vote

In a runaway victory, Ed Balls received 56% of the votes cast in the inaugural shadow cabinet goal of the month competition for his Commons annihilation of Osborne lackey, Matthew Hancock.

Douglas Alexander was in second place with 14% of the vote for his despatch box humiliation of William Hague with Jon Healey third on 12% for his story on £1bn of cuts to health budgets. Yvette Cooper and Jim Murphy were tied in fourth on 9% each for their respective nominations on police cuts and Commons urgent questions to the MoD.

The face-off went out live just before 2pm on the 24th March but with a tiny audience. Before featuring in the Uncut goal of the month competition, Balls’ exchange with Hancock had been a hit in the Westminster village.

A senior Tory public affairs operator remarked that Balls “dishing Hancock” had even generated “a lot of online buzz” in Conservative circles, where Hancock is viewed as promising but inexperienced and prone to arrogance.

For those in the country who managed to see it on the Parliamentary channel, the reaction was immediate. Posting in the comments section of the Uncut piece, Mark Allen, a constituent of Hancock’s in West Suffolk, recalled,

“Remember watching it live and had to rewind the skybox and the wife in to watch…Car crash TV for the Tories”

The impact on Hancock was revealed the day after his mauling.  In an unusual move, he was driven to comment on his website to try to have the last word on what had initially been a minor parliamentary intervention on shadow chancellor.

But it was notable that he didn’t directly deny any of Balls’ string of charges.

Victory in the goal of the month competition caps a weekend of football related success for Ed Balls. His beloved Norwich City beat Nottingham Forest to move within one point of automatic promotion from the Championship.

Its progress he will be hoping to replicate in his brief as he continues to take the fight to the Tories.