Even entertaining the idea of EU foreign minister job would kill Miliband in the Labour party

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE: Paul Waugh writes of an interesting scenario in which Sarkozy kills Blair’s hopes, boosts Miliband’s, and allows Peter Mandelson to step into his dream job at the Foreign Office.

The likelihood of Tony Blair becoming European president may now be dimming, but the rumours that David Miliband might be tempted by the EU foreign policy job swirl on.

The Guardian today carries a double page spread on Brussels’ supposed courting of Miliband. It calls him a “serious contender” who has “impressed European leaders” and is “on the shortlist”. The paper also notes that Miliband has “never ruled himself out” completely and that the foreign secretary might follow Peter Mandelson’s lead and take five years in the EU to avoid potential acrimony in the party post-election.

But rumours they are alone, for it is impossible to conceive that such an ambitious MP would slay his Labour leadership credentials on the mantle of a third such fiasco. After Miliband’s failed soundings for the leadership in 2008, and his failure to support his friend James Purnell by stepping down from the cabinet last June, he can ill-afford even the perception of any more jockeying or inaction.

Labour members would never forgive Miliband if he bailed on the party so close to the general election; like Hazel Blears, he would become an instant pariah.

Miliband’s supporters will be eager to note, then, that Gordon Brown has distanced his foreign secretary from the fray, saying last night:

“If there is a shortlist, I’m sure David would be on it because he has excellent qualifications. But he doesn’t want to be on it. And indeed there is no such list.”

Meanwhile, Miliband brushed off the speculation:

“Not available, as the Prime Minsiter said”.

It’s a non-starter.

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