Ed Balls took time out of his hectic Strictly Come Dancing schedule to speak exclusively to this paper. Jessica LONG reports

%image(14814285, type="article-full", alt="Ed Balls who has said that appearing on Strictly Come Dancing has pushed him further outside his comfort zone than ever before. Photo: Jay Brooks/BBC/PA Wire")

From the Houses of Parliament to the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom.

Ed Balls's transformation from a political heavyweight to the most talked about dancer on British television has been quite the turnaround – with some even referring to him as a national treasure due to his headline grabbing routines.

And tonight the ex-Labour shadow chancellor, who was born in Norwich and initially educated at Bawburgh, will be hoping to impress the judging panel and the armchair viewers once again as he takes to the floor with a dragon inspired paso doble routine.

Alongside his professional partner Katya Jones, the Norwich City chairman will be channelling his inner matador as they dance their way through the routine to the Bonnie Tyler hit Holding Out For A Hero.

%image(14813768, type="article-full", alt="Ed Balls with dance partner Katya Jones during his first dance on Strictly Come Dancing. Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire")

It will also feature some traditional cape work, which will be performed on the stage above the band, and the 49-year-old said this is what he has found most challenging in training.

'It is a whole new experience to do a paso doble as I have never done this before in my life and my first attempt was on Monday,' he said. 'I've had to spend a couple of days learning to twirl a cape around and this is a whole new skill for me.

'It is cape twirling or cape tossing depending how you look at it but I'm doing my best at it as I don't want to drop it.'

The pair have failed to score more than 24 points from the judges during the first three weeks of the competition and, like Ann Widdecome and John Sergeant before him, Mr Balls has so far been saved from the dreaded dance-off with his cowboy inspired Charleston and remarkable samba routine impressing voters at home.

%image(14814286, type="article-full", alt="Ed Balls, who has said that waiting for the results after each round of Strictly Come Dancing is "more tense than a general election". Ian West/PA Wire")

But unlike those two, he his hoping that his paso doble will have more content than comedic value.

'The most important thing we had last week and are hoping again for today is for Len to say that we had plenty of good paso doble steps in our routine and he actually praised Katya last week for making sure that we really packed in the content and that's I'm trying to do,' he said.

'I don't think you can really say that about Ann Widdecome, it was less content and more flamboyant and I'm trying to get the dance steps in too.'

The standard in this year's competition has been higher than ever with the likes of Danny Mac, Claudia Fragapane and Louise Redknapp topping the leader board with spectacular routines.

%image(14814220, type="article-full", alt="Ed Balls during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing. Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire.")

Although Mr Balls has been chasing their tales, the support for Team Giltterballs could see him stay in for weeks to come and he has already been thinking about what dances he would like to try his hand at next.

'I'm quite looking forward to doing one of the American Smooths – I don't whether it will be a foxtrot or whatever but I think the sort of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dances do look beautiful,' he said. 'If I will be able to make them look beautiful is another matter but that is the show you just have to go and do your best.'

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One at 6.30pm.

%image(14812700, type="article-full", alt="Ed Balls with his dance partner Katya Jones during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing. Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire")

%image(14812783, type="article-full", alt="Ed Balls with his dance partner Katya Jones during Saturday's live edition of the BBC1 show, Strictly Come Dancing. Photo: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire")