It’s been four years and more than 38,000 retweets since the shadow chancellor accidentally tweeted his own name – and 28 April became the semi-official Ed Balls Day.
The original tweet, from 2011, has been favourited more than 18,000 times and is set to get hundreds more retweets in the coming hours.
Ed Balls
— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) April 28, 2011
“I’ve no idea what to make of it,” Balls told the New Statesman in March. “It’s obviously helped by the fact that I have a memorable name.
“The trouble with the day itself is that there is a dilemma. There’s one group of people who think if I don’t engage somehow on the day, I’m a bad sport. And if I do engage, there’ll be another whole group of people who’ll say: ‘Oh, God, he’s ruined it’. I can’t win and I sort of know that, so I don’t really mind.”
But there was an upside, he added: “Who in postwar British politics has had a day named after them? You take what you can, really, don’t you?”
In previous years, Balls has acknowledged the Ed Balls Day celebration, albeit grudgingly.
Sorry... But this is getting really weird.. RT @FelicityMorse: Ed Balls makes it onto a train sign pic.twitter.com/4uTwixFfXL
— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) April 12, 2013
Good grief.. Oh go on then.. RT @edballsmp: Ed Balls
— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) April 28, 2014
In 2013, even the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, who is married to Balls, retweeted the slip-up.
RT @edballsmp: Ed Balls
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) April 28, 2013
So will Balls be taking part this year, from the campaign trail?
.@edballsmp so, come on Ed, how are *you* marking #EdBallsDay..? [Get it over with early and you won't be plagued later..no, really]
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) April 28, 2015
By early Tuesday morning, new spoofs were already circulating.
Morning all and Happy Ed Balls Day. Just spotted this at Balham. #EdBallsDay pic.twitter.com/rN6Rm5fiQN
— Andy Lang (@HRH_Duke_of_Url) April 28, 2015
Cake for breakfast! After all...it's Ed Balls day! Have a good one! #EdBalls #EdBallsDay pic.twitter.com/K325rdkKWO
— Tattooed_Mummy (@tattooed_mummy) April 28, 2015
Happy ed balls day pic.twitter.com/FMDdlx4g7B
— big al (@alicekcv) April 28, 2015
But the hype of Ed Balls Day has been somewhat tempered this year by complaints that the day itself has become too mainstream.
Ed Balls Day has become so commercial.
— Robbie Collin (@robbiereviews) April 28, 2015
Ed Balls day is so commercialised these days. I think people are missing the true meaning of Ed Balls day.
— Sarah Brown (@SarahBrown1984) April 28, 2015
I celebrated Ed Balls Day before it became cool.
— Retro Aperture (@RetroAperture) April 28, 2015
