Born in Barton Mills, Mildenhall, Suffolk, Balfe spent time in a children's home in Sheffield.

[2] On 19 September 2013 he was created a life peer taking the title Baron Balfe, of Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark.

On 4 June 2015, Balfe proposed "a bill to make provision to allow European Union citizens who are resident in the United Kingdom to vote in parliamentary elections and to become members of Parliament; and for connected purposes".

[10] He is not associated with the Cambridge for Europe campaign that was relaunched in 2020,[11] and which strongly advocates support for Ukraine's resistance to Russia's invasion.

On 22 June 2023, Balfe attended a party in London organised by Andrei Kelin, the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom on the occasion of Russia Day.