Ed Miliband ‘will marry’ his girlfriend
By politics.co.uk staff
Ed Miliband has confirmed he will eventually marry his girlfriend, after being repeatedly asked the question during a round of post-speech interviews.
The former energy and climate change secretary has one child with Justine Thornton already and the couple are expecting a second.
Mr Miliband said politics kept getting in the way of them setting a date.
“I have said that we will get married. I said that Copenhagen and the general election and the leadership election got in the way,” he told Sky.
“We will get married, but I think it’s important, and if feel this quite strongly, that politicians should be able to make their own decisions about their lives.”
Speaking to ITV’s Daybreak, he commented that voters were no longer worried by party leader’s private lives.
“I think people are pretty relaxed about this,” he said.
“I don’t think people care one way or the other about what other people do in their lives as long as they show responsibility to each other.”
Asked to propose on air, he replied: “I think it’s better to do it in person, really.
“I don’t think it would exactly bring out my romantic side to propose on Daybreak, but thanks for the offer anyway.”
Speaking later to BBC Breakfast, the new Labour leader, who is an atheist, insisted that marriage was not an essential part of a stable family life.
“I think marriage is a very important institution, but there are stable families that aren’t married and stable families that are married,” he said.
“My love for Justine is profound and we’re a very close unit, and we’re very much looking forward to the birth of our second child.”
Ed Miliband delivered his first conference speech as Labour leader yesterday, where he referred to his parents and his young child, but not Ms Thornton.
