Flipping Balls

I see that my old pal, wannabe Chancellor Ed Balls, is preaching to David Cameron that family commitments are no excuse for inflated expense claims. Balls should know.
The Schools Secretary - and his Housing Minister wife Yvette Cooper - first caught the attention of Channel Four Dispatches back in 2007 for repeatedly "flipping" their main residence between Yorkshire to London and claiming £27,000 subsidy on the £438,000 mortgage on their "second home" in Stoke Newington. That's despite their children attending local north London schools (while I'm willing to bet that their "first home" mortgage is also considerably lower).
The case for the Balls and Cooper defence back then? "They do consider Yorkshire to be their main family home but they are ministers and do not want to be apart from their children. They can nominate their London home as their second home."
That's all right, then.