"He says he feels the pain of teachers, children and parents - but insists he is not responsible," complained the Daily Telegraph, which concluded: "Mr Balls should have the good grace to say he's sorry." Writing in The Guardian, shadow children's secretary Michael Gove hissed: "This 'it weren't me, Miss' approach is not fair on other public servants." And Balls was pushed to utter the "s" word in an interview with The Independent's Steve Richards: "I ask him whether he will utter the words 'I'm sorry'. He chooses not to do so."
No wonder Balls was "not exactly in a cheery mood" when he addressed members of the Westminster press at a drinks reception, described by Julia Langdon in the Mail on Sunday: "It was a peculiar torture imposed on Mr Balls that he was obliged to entertain the very political journalists he clearly despises and upon whom, like all ministers throughout history, he rests the blame for his current troubles."
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