Ed Balls rules out standing in Manchester Gorton by-election but Strictly star leaves open Parliamentary comeback
Comes as shadow minister Rebecca Long-Bailey denies seat that Labour has held since 1935 is ‘safe’
ED BALLS has ruled out standing in the Manchester Gorton by-election but the Strictly star has left open the chance of returning to Parliament.
The former Shadow Chancellor –who lost his seat in the 2015 general election - said “never say never” to becoming an MP again.
It comes as current shadow minister Rebecca Long-Bailey has denied the seat Labour has held since 1935 is “safe”, after veteran Gerald Kaufman’s death.
She said MPs couldn't "ever call a seat a safe seat nowadays", despite it being listed by the Electoral Calculus website as having the UK's ninth-biggest Labour majority.
The late MP won the seat with a majority of 24,079 majority in 2015, with on 67% of the vote – while the Greens in second place had just 4,108 votes.
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Ms Long-Bailey, the Shadow Business Secretary, was speaking after Labour lost the Copeland by-election – a seat they had also held since the 1930s.
She told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "I think you have to work hard to convince the electorate that you're the party for them.
"And that's certainly what we need to do as a Labour party. We have to make sure our message it cutting through.”
The ex-Cabinet minister Mr Balls ruled himself out of standing for Labour in the resulting by-election, telling ITV's Peston on Sunday: "I'm not standing in a by-election.
"If I was trying to stand in Manchester Gorton I might not have spent November being a Zoolander male model, or doing the cha-cha as a mad scientist.”
However, he indicated he was keeping his options open about a political comeback in the future, despite the success of his new career on Strictly Come Dancing.
He added: I’m not going to say ‘never’, but at the moment that’s not my plan and there’s a Labour leader and a Labour party in Parliament and in the country that have got to get on and deliver it.”
It comes as Clive Lewis failed to rule out a future run for the Labour leadership as he gave Jeremy Corbyn a 75% chance of leading the party back to power.
But the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has categorically ruled himself out of a future run for the leadership, insisting Mr Corbyn will lead Labour into the 2020 general election as he said possible leadership successors needed to gain “more experience”.