YES
I have worked with education secretaries since 1981 (Margaret Morrissey writes) and I have never previously come across someone with Ed Balls’s style. He is intent on doing things his way and, if he cannot get his own way, he holds a consultation with those people who agree with him in order to produce the result that he wants.
His attitude is: “I am an expert. I know best and I will consult other experts who do it my way.” Mr Balls has a culture of blame in which he says, “I am not going to take the blame for this”, and looks for others to accuse. His refusal to listen over raising the school starting age is another example of the way he operates.
Mr Balls puts his career first and is not going to let education stand in his way.
Margaret Morrissey is founder of Parents Outloud, a campaign group for parents

NO

Ed Balls should rise above the macho posturing on this. He absolutely is not a bully .. Bullying is a very strong term. He’s the last person I would accuse of being a bully. I have never experienced it. I thought it was misleading of him (Barry Sheerman) to suggest that Ed Balls was a bully. That’s certainly not what I believe and, although I can’t speak for the committee, it certainly wasn’t discussed there. That was Barry’s view of it. The only person I have heard of being accused of bullying tactics is the robust questioning that Barry sometimes gives. With all due respect I wouldn’t describe that as bullying, either. One person’s robust questioning is another person’s bullying. It was a very bad choice of words, which is why I rang Barry this morning to distance myself from it, but also the committee. It certainly isn’t usual for Barry. Maybe itwas just Monday morning and he wasn’t quite as awake as he should have been.

Lynda Waltho is Labour MP for Stourbridge and on the Commons Children’s Select Committee