Ed Balls has revealed he is finally ready to get a spray tan for Strictly Come Dancing.

The former Labour MP had been resisting the lure of the orange glow but admitted the time has finally come.

He wrote in the Mail on Sunday: “I accept that it’s a Rubicon I must eventually cross, though, and that to leave Strictly without having at least my upper body turned tangerine would be to miss out on an important tradition.

“I’m hoping to try it next week, if I’m still in the competition.”

However, Ed said he won’t be going as far as his friend Jeremy Vine did, when he was on the programme.

“I won’t go for a ‘full Jeremy’, though,” he said.

“He told me he went totally naked for his spray tans. I can’t help but wonder what dance would require that level of commitment.”

Ed also told how he feels as if he’s wearing a “giant romper suit” when he takes to the dancefloor.

The former shadow chancellor – who is paired up with pro Katya Jones – said the contestants’ clothes get stitched together before they compete.

“What nobody tells you about Strictly is that all your clothes are going to be sewn together,” he said.

“Even your boxer shorts and your shirts. It’s to prevent anything from coming loose as you dance, but it feels like putting on a giant romper suit.”