Twelve years on and David Miliband’s loss to his brother Ed during their acrimonious fight to succeed Gordon Brown still feels raw. The unlikely tale of political fratricide made for one of the most riveting blood feuds of modern British political history and, after a decade of upheaval and uncertainty, politicos cannot help but conclude that Labour chose the “wrong brother” back in 2010.
In the aftermath of Labour’s 2015 defeat, political commentator John Rentoul declared that “[this was] an election that Labour could have won, and David Miliband could have won it”. Rentoul’s “other brother” hypothesis is now almost ubiquitous — with even comedian James Corden voicing his support: “I truly believe the day David Miliband left politics it all started to unravel”, the Carpool Karaoke host tweeted in 2019.
But Miliband never disappeared entirely. Like Corden, Miliband swapped a high-profile career in Britain for a gig in the States, becoming chief executive of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in 2013. The prominence of the not-for-profit, coupled with Miliband’s infrequent interventions in British politics, perpetually fuelled speculation that “the one who got away” might still be persuaded back.
This speculation has amped up in recent weeks, with Miliband giving his strongest hint yet that he is gearing up for a political comeback. When the topic of a potential political return was mooted in a recent interview with Andrew Marr, Miliband responded: “That has not been decided yet. That has not been done”.
Nonetheless, a Miliband comeback will not be welcomed by all, and the former foreign secretary arguably suffers from the same problem that he did back in 2010.
While he may be a well-qualified political operator, Miliband remains tainted by his association with the ancien régime. As a New Labour darling and original “heir to Blair”, Miliband will need to prove that he can change, just as the energy of politics has changed since 2010.
Moreover, the key driver of the “David myth” between 2010 and 2020 was that the Labour party had been led adrift by Ed Miliband, before being taken off course entirely by Jeremy Corbyn. But with the party right in the ascendant under Starmer, is the return of the messianic saviour of the centre-ground needed?
An ally for Starmer?
Going off ideological compatibility alone, Miliband would slot pretty easily into Starmer’s top team.
In his interview last month with Andrew Marr, Miliband affirmed that he was “enthusiastic” about Labour’s direction under Starmer. The avowed atheist added: “The Labour party has, thank God, put itself into a position where it’s got good people leading it — it’s developing its plans for government … I think is really essential for the country”.
This praise comes after years of savage criticism from Miliband over Starmer’s predecessor. Commenting recently on Corbyn’s record as party leader, Miliband said: “When people got to look at Labour in 2017, we couldn’t beat the worst Tory campaign in history… and then when people got the full measure of Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, he led us to the worst election defeat since the 1930s”. This is a point on which Starmer, who has expelled his predecessor from the parliamentary Labour Party, would surely agree.
Miliband and Starmer would also be at one on a number of important Labour party priorities. Miliband has been outspoken about the need for a more radical approach to climate policy, and as CEO of the IRC, he has consistently criticised the UK government’s approach to migration. On the day the first flight of the government’s controversial Rwanda relocation policy was due to take off, Miliband slammed the government’s “perverse” approach to the asylum issue, insisting: “Refugees are people who become businessmen, they become sportsmen, they become part of the fabric of community in an incredibly positive way”.
Interestingly, the subject where Miliband comes closest to admonishing Starmer is Brexit. The former foreign secretary has expressed scepticism about the party’s recent re-positioning.
Walking back his opposition to Brexit, Starmer stated last month that rejoining the EU would not help the UK economy. By contrast, Miliband has stayed firm: “You can walk away from issues, but they won’t walk away from you. … So [on] Brexit, you’ve got to have a position”.
“It seems to me what he’s trying to do is make sure he doesn’t get cornered by his political opponents”, he added.
Throughout 2016-2019, Miliband was an outspoken opponent of Brexit, calling on Corbyn’s Labour to become the “unequivocal” party of Remain before the 2019 general election. He was even touted as a potential leader of a new centre party in British politics, one which could unite Conservative remainers, Labour moderates and Liberal Democrats as the battle to assemble a parliamentary majority for a second referendum rumbled on in the background.
What next…
The noise that surrounds a possible Miliband return is a sign of the times in Labour party politics.
Starmer has worked consummately to rehabilitate New Labour’s image in the eyes of the modern Labour Party, consulting privately on party strategy with Blairite spinners Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson and very publicly on constitutional politics with Gordon Brown. It is also telling that former New Labour ministers David Lammy and Yvette Cooper occupy two of the four shadow “great offices of state” under Starmer.
But the tropes of the “other brother” myth notwithstanding, not everyone will be enthusiastic about a Miliband return.
As his interview with Marr and others demonstrate, the former foreign secretary has not lost his weakness for a glib soundbite since leaving politics. Furthermore, while MPs on the party right may welcome Miliband’s homecoming, others may take to the prospect more dimly. The IRC CEO would return having not contributed at all to the dogged graft of opposition politics, only reappearing with Labour on the cusp of power. For veterans of “Labour’s lost decade”, Miliband’s return might seems calculated at best and power-hungry at worst.
Conversely, Miliband’s return would add significantly to the Labour party’s experience of government. Of the almost 30 MPs in the shadow cabinet, only two — Yvette Cooper and David’s brother Ed — have been secretaries of state. There are then only four others — David Lammy, John Healey, Pat McFadden and Sir Alan Campbell — who have held junior ministerial posts. In total, some 21 of Starmer’s top team, including the leader of the opposition himself and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, have only ever been opposition MPs.
There are many reasons why Labour MPs both might embrace and resist a return to politics from David Miliband — with his experience acting at once as his greatest political asset and his most obvious drawback.
Ultimately, were Starmer to back a bid for Miliband to become MP, it would underline how far the party has travelled ideologically under his leadership. It would be a further signal, if another is needed, that the party right is winning the argument in the Labour party.
