Ed Balls thanks Strictly dance partner and mulls next move after exiting stage left

Ed Balls’ time on the Saturday night TV favourite Strictly Come Dancing has unfortunately come to an end. No more shall we look forward to Gangnam Style salsas or The Mask-inspired sambas and our weekends shall be the poorer for it. The former shadow chancellor has, however, paid tribute to his dancer partner.

Balls and his partner Katya Jones danced a tango, channeling Derek Zoolander, to the Rolling Stones’ classic “I can’t get no (satisfaction)” this weekend but unfortunately ended up in the dance off against Judge Rinder and his partner Oksana.

The judges unanimously chose to keep the other couple in the competition for their more polished, technically superior performance.

Balls, the former shadow chancellor who lost his Morley and Outwood seat at the 2015 general election, is currently a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy school of government, visiting professor at the policy institute at King’s college London and Norwich city FC chairman.

Speaking on Twitter after his exit, Balls wrote:

My @bbcstrictly partner @Mrs_katjones is a great dancer and a genius and so generous choreographer – to her and @Mr_NJones.. thank-you! pic.twitter.com/6dOjlbQEKl

— Ed Balls (@edballs) November 27, 2016

And gave a teaser to what we missed out on by not seeing him again:

We were doing a @bbcstrictly rumba next week to Shirley Bassey’s ‘This Is My Life’ – it’s probably now best left to the imagination! pic.twitter.com/Dued2UOqTR

— Ed Balls (@edballs) November 27, 2016

He also spoke warmly about the other contestants, saying: “My fellow BBC strictly contestants have been such a close-knit and supportive group. Friendships for life have been made. Thank-you”.

He thanked his wife Yvette Cooper, MP for Pontefract and Castleford and chair of the home affairs select committee, saying he never would have participated had it not been for her and Jeremy Vine’s encouragement.

Cooper posted on Facebook her own tribute to her husband’s efforts on the dance program:

Other political figures and Labour MPs celebrated the former shadow chancellor’s efforts on the programme.

Alison McGovern, MP for Wirral South, said:

Everyone who has worked with @edballs loves him. Glad that everyone got to see what a top person he is (& the genius of @Mrs_katjones) ??❤️

— Alison McGovern (@Alison_McGovern) November 27, 2016