The Balls Bandwagon

Rachel Silvester is doing her bit in the Telegraph today to keep the idea in people's minds that Ed Balls is a future Labour leader:

Increasingly, the chatter in the Commons tea rooms is turning to the leadership contest that will unfold when Mr Brown eventually stands down. According to one close ally of the Prime Minister, Mr Brown has made clear, privately, that he does not intend to fight more than one election. I presume that, if this is true, he has also made the position clear to Mr Balls.

Some MPs believe that the Children's Secretary is already positioning himself as the "True Labour" candidate who would stand against the more "New Labour" David Miliband. His department has, for example, announced a review of city academies (a bête noire for the Labour Left), although it is unclear where it will lead.

In the past, Mr Balls has said he prefers the label "socialist" to the more New Labour "social democrat". And it was in fact he who first argued, in an interview five years ago, that there were "limits to the market" in the public services (a point more famously repeated three months later by Mr Brown in a speech).

Cosy. Anyone know what the relationship is between Mr Silvester and Mr Balls?