Speaking Out cover art

Speaking Out

Lessons in Life and Politics

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Speaking Out

By: Ed Balls
Narrated by: Ed Balls
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

On the night of 7 May 2015, Ed Balls thought there was a chance he would wake up the next morning as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Instead he woke up without a job.

For two decades he had occupied a central position within Labour, rising from adviser to Cabinet Minister during the years in power and Shadow Chancellor in Opposition. Throughout one of the most tumultuous periods in recent British history, he made a point of speaking out, whatever the consequences. But on that May morning, he was silenced.

Speaking Out is a record of a life in politics but also much more. It is about how power can be used for good and the lessons to be learned when things go wrong. It is about the mechanics of Westminster and of government. It is about facing up to your fears and misgivings and tackling your limitations - on stages public and private.

It is about the mistakes made, change delivered and personalities encountered over the course of two decades at the front line of British politics. It is a unique window into a rarely seen world. Most importantly, it explains what politics is about and why it matters.

©2016 Ed Balls (P)2016 Random House Audiobooks 21st Century Elections & Political Process Europe Great Britain Modern Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government World England Inspiring Thought-Provoking Socialism

Listeners also enjoyed...

 My Life, Our Times cover art
The Third Man cover art
The Blair Years cover art
Election Notebook cover art
Appetite cover art
The Killing Season Uncut cover art
Unspeakable cover art
The Message cover art
The Abuse of Power cover art
Unleashing Demons cover art
The Fall of Boris Johnson cover art
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class cover art
Blue Murder cover art
Inside the Clinton White House cover art
Keep Talking cover art
Confessions of a Recovering MP cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
the ground covered by the book is wider and more varied and his head on approach is different from that I saw in the short tv and Commons exposure. I agree with far more of what he is saying in the book than I thought I would. Labour especially has lost a vital member from the benches I wish there were more like him.
I listened to all the book and had members of the family listen to a number of extracts that were amusing and or unexpected. I have recommended it to friends who like me have worked with local and national politicians as one of the people we would have appreciated rather than suffered.

very interesting account of his experiences

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book has surprised me by restoring to some extent my faith in politics. At a time when the new normal includes lying, and cheating your way to power it is so refreshing to be reminded that there are people with principles out there. Regardless of whether you agree with his politics Ed Balls shows himself here to be a decent, honourable, intelligent, thoughtful human being and these are traits which are sadly in short supply just now. An enjoyable and sometimes even funny listen, all the more surprising as I didn't mean to buy it, having wrongly thought that I had clicked on the Buy Now button for John Bercow's new book! I was going to return it without reading it but I'm glad that I decided to give it a go.

what a nice guy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ed Balls shares some of his insight and experiences at the top of politics with admirable reflection of what failed as well as succeeded. The section on managing privacy for the family was fascinating and issues around his and others' stammers were moving and informative too. The most useful chapters were where politics combines with the economy and which should lead which. The fact Ed Balls gives the narration dramatically improves the impact and emphasis on his thoughts and lessons for the future. Balls has lectured at Harvard since losing his seat in 2015 and through this audiobook we get an impressively reflective lecture on a wide range of material that poses as many questions as it answers, but is no worse for that.

Made even more powerful by author's narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting to here all the little anecdotes from his time in Poltics, if you like biographies worth a go

Thematic Bio that works well and is interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book was on a reading list. I never go in for reading autobiographies, what a surprise to enjoy this so much. An utterly human re - telling of a key part of Labour's history. A reflective piece that reveals some of the challenges of juggling family life and a political career. Having Ed narrate it adds massively to its telling.

What a surprise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I almost gave up on this book after the first chapter, which was rubbish. But really glad I persevered as it dramatically improves when he gets onto the matter of his speech impediment, and his political career.

Like most memoirs he does airbrush some things, and is highly partisan like all politicians, but I got the impression he was generally telling the truth.

It’s a very human memoir which really helped me understand what it’s actually like being a politician, so worth listening to for that alone.

Ed balls always struck me as a bit of a buffoon, but this book shows that there is a lot of substance to him as well

Slow start but glad I persevered

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A must read for anyone with an interest in the political history of Britain over the last quarter of a century.

A frank, at times very personal, look at the author's own career; Balls explains his thinking at the time and now with hindsight on some of the most important events in modern British politics; from Clause 4 to Brexit.

Must listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Listening to the author tell his own story is a perfect way to listen to an autobiography. But, I feel he held back a little and could have opened up some real insights into the highs and lows, the success stories and the failures. They are covered - and sone so well and with enthusiasm - but I feel he held back somewhat

A good account of a career in British politics

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Where does Speaking Out rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A frank account of life before, in and after politics. This rates as one of the most interesting audio books I have heard so far.

What other book might you compare Speaking Out to, and why?

Similar to other political biographies from Blair, Brown etc although this had a more humanistic approach.

What about Ed Balls’s performance did you like?

Good if a little frenetic at times.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes and it made me thoughtful.

Any additional comments?

Overall a very enjoyable and entertaining read.

Ed Balls - The Person

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Learning about one dot eh brightest stars of new labour was insightful and understanding what they got right and wrong from Ed's point of view was fantastically engaging. This is an excellent book on the lessons any budding politician or politically minded person should know. However, the last part of the book just feels like a justification for centerism, and labels anyone with slightly left of centre views a radical or an outsider. For someone that says Labour ought to be a unifying party, he does a good a job of alienating a lot of younger, more left wing voters. It feels symptomatic of the centrists of Labour - unable to allow moderate left wing people to participate in the policy process.

Insightful but at time Egotistical

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews