Ed Balls celebrated his birthday by showing off his dance moves in a gay bar
The UK’s former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was filmed in a Texas gay bar, dancing with a drag queen.
The Labour MP was tipped to be on the cusp of power before losing his seat at the 2015 General Election.
The ex-politician has since built a surprising second life as a quasi-reality star, appearing on TV dance contest Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.
Balls showed off his dancing moves in the unlikeliest of places for his new BBC documentary series, Travels in Trumpland with Ed Balls.
Travels in Trumpland with Ed Balls
The second episode of the show saw Balls exploring the pro-gun movement in Texas US – meeting gay, African-American pro-gun Trump supporter Michael Cargill.
After an intense political discussion over dinner, the pair go on a night out together in Austin, to a local gay bar.
Balls narrates: “When Michael said he’d take me for a night out in Austin, I wasn’t quite expecting this.
“But being in a gay club with a Trump supporter is a unique way to spend my 51st birthday.”
The former Shadow Chancellor is shown dancing with a bearded drag queen, before being roped into a dance contest.
Not one to waste his talents, Balls busts out one of his Strictly routines to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”
Balls is married to Labour MP Yvette Cooper.
The ex-politician has long been an LGBT ally, releasing a video in support of the Out4Marriage campaign in May 2012.
The MP said he was inspired to support marriage equality by his late uncle, who came out as gay later in life.
He said: “Twenty years ago my uncle came out in his fifties as gay and he died, I’m afraid, before he and his long-term partner could have a civil partnership.
“But actually in our family we would have liked him to have gone further and to have got married. It’s what he would have wanted, I believe.”
At the PinkNews Awards in 2014, Balls spoke of the urgent need to “normalise” imagery of LGBT people in mainstream culture, saying inclusive campaigns are “very important” to show that Britain is accepting and diverse.
He said: “I think it is really important that we have in our corporate marketing statements which can really normalise the images of LGBT people and their families and showing this is part of our normal and mainstream life in Britain, and that’s why these campaigns are very important today.”
