George Osborne & Ed Balls to join ITV on Election Night 2017

George Osborne – Editor of The Evening Standard, former Chancellor and Conservative MP – and Ed Balls, former Labour Cabinet Minister and Shadow Chancellor, will join ITV on election night on June 8th.

As the polls close, News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby will take the chair as host of ITV News Election 2017 Live.

Of his role on election night, George Osborne said: “There is nothing quite like an election night and I am delighted to be joining the ITV News team sitting alongside Tom Bradby, this time as commentator rather than candidate.

“I’m looking forward to sharing my analysis of events and hope Ed and I will bring a different perspective on what’s happening and how all the main characters might be feeling.”

Osborne and Balls will be joined in the studio by Political Editor Robert Peston and National Editor Allegra Stratton, plus psephologists Professor Jane Green, a director of the British Election Study and Professor Colin Rallings, ITV’s election analyst for nearly 30 years.

Meanwhile, Nina Hossain will be watching for developing trends online. Digital partners Google and Twitter will be charting reaction to events as they happen, alongside the ITV News digital team, who will be tracking how the results are being shared. Plus Nina will be joined by a stellar line up of guests and opinion formers who’ll be giving their take on the night’s drama on air and online.

Ed Balls said: “I’ve really enjoyed talking politics over the last few years with Tom Bradby on ‘The Agenda’ and Robert Peston and Allegra Stratton on ‘Peston on Sunday’. So what better way to spend General Election night than to team up with them again as part of the ITV News team on the night.

“It’s the first time in over twenty years that neither George Osborne nor I will be actively involved for one of the two main parties. But hopefully, as the results come in, we will be able to add some interesting perspective and analysis on what has been a most unusual campaign.”