“Absolutely not true”: Miliband has not accepted EU job

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

David Miliband’s office has told me this afternoon that the idea that the foreign secretary has “accepted” the role of EU high representative – which was the word of “sourced” reports on the politics.co.uk website this morning – is “absolutely not true – at all”.

The foreign secretary – who is currently on a two-day trip to Turkey – is clear that “nothing has changed” since last week, when he said he was “not available”.

The politics.co.uk story had quoted a “Labour source” as saying that Miliband would be in place in the EU within the next fortnight, triggering a by-election in South Shields.

Mr Miliband’s office has now dismissed it as “speculation”.

Last week, I wrote of the difficulty David Miliband might find himself in were he to accept any new role in Europe, rather than fight for Labour at the election, and rejected the story as a non-starter.

To me, that’s still the case, in spite of the politics.co.uk reports that Peter Mandelson could become a caretaker leader after the general election for a single term should Labour lose, before “handing power over to Mr Miliband”.

The “handing over” of “power” would not, in any case, be allowed to occur again so soon after 2007 without strong opposition in the party.

According to Political Betting, however, Miliband remains a favourite to take the EU position, with his price varying between 5/2 and 3/1.