Politics

Ed Balls’ showdown with James Cleverly is a must-watch

Foreign secretary James Cleverly has rejected claims that the King was being drawn into political controversy over his meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Cleverly denied ministers were politicising the monarchy following the meeting between the King and the Brussels official at Windsor Castle, which coincided with the agreement of a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.

The Tory MP insisted it was “not unusual” for the King to meet senior international figures while they were in the UK.

He pointed out that the King had met Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month, although the Ukrainian President is a head of state, unlike Ms von der Leyen.

But Ed Balls was having none of it.

Watch their fiery showdown below:

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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