A rebel Tory MP has crossed the ultimate divide - by suggesting she'd snog Ed Balls.

Heidi Allen laughed as she was pressed into her choice during a game of 'snog, marry, avoid' in a radio interview.

The welfare campaigner said she'd avoid both Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, but admitted a soft spot for the former Shadow Chancellor.

“Maybe snog," she said. "I like a man who can move to music. Like my husband."

Ms Allen added she would happily follow Mr Balls' lead and appear on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing because "I’d love to learn to salsa".

The 'snog, marry, avoid' game is a weekly feature with backbench MPs - both male and female - played by BBC Radio 5 Live presenter John Pienaar.

Previously Tory MP James Cleverly said he would snog Theresa May and the singer Rita Ora.

Ed Balls is clearly on fire... (
Image:
BBC)
Heidi Allen is better known for campaigning to delay disability benefit cuts

Elsewhere in the interview Ms Allen, who is leading Tory calls for disability benefit cuts to be delayed, said her dream Cabinet job would be Work and Pensions Secretary.

If she got the post she would "love-bomb the Chancellor so he would give me enough money” to halt cuts to Employment and Support Allowance, she said.

Asked if she’d take the job if it was offered to her, however, she added: “Not if it means I have to compromise myself in the meantime.”

Ms Allen formally rebelled against the government by voting against the cuts in March, and was one of five Tories who voted to delay them last week.

She added her hero was Nelson Mandela, and asked if she believed in alternate realities she joked: "I think we’re living through one right now!"