Wirksworth: Politician red-faced after TV blunder
A senior politician proved he wasn’t quite on the ball when he forgot the name of one his party’s major backers on national television.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was hot under the collar after admitting he forgot the name of one of Labour’s main business supporters Bill Thomas, who owns Wirksworth’s Hopton Hall, during an interview on BBC Two’s Newsnight.
Mr Thomas is the former senior vice president of Hewlett Packard Europe and was brought in to chair Labour’s small business task force in 2013.
Mr Balls later blamed the blunder on his age.