Early life

Born in Barton Mills

Barton Mills

Barton Mills is a village and civil parish in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk, England. The village is on the south bank of the River Lark...

, Mildenhall

Mildenhall, Suffolk

Mildenhall is a small market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is run by Forest Heath District Council and has a population of 9,906 people. The town is near the A11 and is located north-west of county town, Ipswich. The large Royal Air Force base, RAF Mildenhall as well as RAF...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, Balfe spent time in a children's home

Children's Home

Children's Home is a historic building at 427 Robeson Street in Fall River, Massachusetts.The Home was built in 1894 and added to the National Historic Register in 1983....

 in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. He began working in a bakery

Bakery

A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...

 in 1960 and joined USDAW. The following year, he moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and worked first for the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments, then at the Foreign Office.

Political career

In 1970, Balfe resigned from the Foreign Office in order to stand as the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 candidate in Paddington South

Paddington South (UK Parliament constituency)

Paddington South was a Parliamentary constituency in London which returned one Member of Parliament. It was a compact urban area, but predominantly wealthy, and was most famously represented by Lord Randolph Churchill during the latter part of his career....

. He was unsuccessful, and instead became the Research Officer for the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families.

At the Greater London Council election, 1973

Greater London Council election, 1973

The fourth election to the Greater London Council was held on April 12, 1973. Labour, benefiting both from the unpopularity of the Conservative GLC's transport policy and from the difficulties of the national Conservative government, won a very large majority of 58 seats to 32 for the...

, Balfe was elected in Dulwich, serving until 1977. During this period, he was also political secretary of the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society

Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society

The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society was a consumer co-operative based in south east London; taking its name from the royal munitions works at Woolwich....

. At the first direct elections to the European Parliament, in 1979, Balfe was elected as the MEP for London South Inner

London South Inner (European Parliament constituency)

Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales...

. He held his seat until its abolition in 1999, then won a seat from fourth place on the party list for London

London (European Parliament constituency)

London is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 8 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :The constituency corresponds to Greater London, in the south east of the United Kingdom....

. He supported a single European currency and was a member of the European Movement

European Movement

The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.-History:...

.

In late 2001, Balfe stood for the post of quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

 in the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

, against instructions from his party group. As a result, he was expelled in January 2002. In March, he joined the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

, the first elected Labour politician to do so since Reg Prentice in 1977.

Balfe stood down as an MEP in 2004. In 2008, he was appointed by David Cameron

David Cameron

David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

 as the Conservative's trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

envoy.