Return of the other Miliband

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

It was understandable that David Miliband would want to retreat into the shadows in the aftermath of the leadership election. He was the older brother – the senior partner – who would have struggled to adapt to life working for his sibling. For Ed it would surely have been easier. A defeated Ed Miliband would have been able to slot into a shadow cabinet led by his brother with his reputation enhanced. He’d be a major force in the party. He could still think of leading the party one day. Whilst David Miliband is still the bookies favourite to be Labour’s next leader, that’s somewhat unlikely.

Today David Miliband made his first major intervention since those memorable, choreographed interviews back in September when he announced his intention to head for the backbenches. Speaking to Andrew Marr this morning David admitted that he’d been hurt by his loss in the leadership race, saying:

“Sometimes it hurts, but you’ve got to get up afterwards and try and make the best of it.”

No-one has ever doubted the elder Miliband’s dedication to what he believes in, and to succeed. He talked this morning of helping to “change the world” and speaking up for what he calls the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan.

Yet David (and Ed) still find it difficult to talk about their fraternal relationship. In fairness to the two brothers though, it wasn’t something that either of them found easy to articulate during the leadership contest either – often leading to slightly clunky phraseology. David was no less guarded this morning, yet he did seem to admit the temptation to reveal his true feelings:

“You’re brothers for life and you’re politicians for a parliament at a time and it’s very, very important that and the other thing about brothers is what’s brotherly is private despite the temptations on Sunday morning TV.”

The reason that David has returned to our TV screens is – obstensively – due to a speech he’s giving later this week on the European left. Yet he will still be dogged, for many years at the very least, about his future plans, and whether we’ll see him again on the frontbench. On this, David did nothing to stop the speculation, saying:

“I’m taking this one parliament at a time and I think the idea that I should start bidding for jobs in a future Labour government when I’m about to make a speech about the mountain that left of centre parties face, I think that’s getting ahead of ourselves, but what’s important is that the Labour party makes itself a fighting force and provides a real alternative for the country.”

“I hope that being 45 and being a relative veteran, doesn’t mean that it’s all downhill from here.”

Many people in the Labour Party who miss his talents will be hoping the same thing. There’s plenty of space in the Labour Party for David, as well as Ed.