Alexander and Balls allies deny Mail claims that they “almost came to blows”

Allies of both Douglas Alexander and Ed Balls have denied claims in the Mail on Sunday this morning that the two men “had to be ‘dragged apart’” and “almost came to blows”. The Mail claimed that:

“Ed Balls and Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander had to be ‘dragged apart’ when they almost came to blows during a blazing row, it was revealed last night. Former Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell was forced to intervene, saying she feared the Labour rivals were about to get into a ‘fisticuffs’. The dust-up happened when the Shadow Chancellor and Mr Alexander clashed in a private room in the Commons over the party’s policy on Europe.”

Yet speaking to LabourList this morning, allies of both Balls and Alexander have denied that the row took place. Whilst the two men are not thought to be close – and rows are a regular occurrence in politics as they are elsewhere – there are some things that need to be queried about the Mail piece.

The paper claims that that Alexander and Balls had their row in October 2012, and that they were separated by Tessa Jowell. Yet Jowell left the Shadow Cabinet in September 2012 – a full month before the row is alleged to have taken place. It also seems unlikely that such a row could have taken place only to emerge 15 months later – when Douglas Alexander and Harriet Harman argued recently it was in the papers within days.

And that’s before we get onto the fact that the Mail seems to think Douglas Alexander is nicknamed “Deadly Doug”, yet no-one seems to have called him that. Ever.