David miliband

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Balls spills the beans

From our UK edition

File David Miliband's decision not to stand in the shadow Cabinet elections in the folder marked "Worst kept secrets in Westminster". Here's what Ed Balls has just told ITV: "I don't think David Miliband is leaving because of reasons of politics or ideology or policy. I don't think this is a political divide, I think this it's a personal decision. He's decided, and it seems he's decided in the last few days if he has, that for personal reasons he doesn't want to serve with his brother. I understand that because it must have been incredibly difficult to have lost to your brother in that way ... If as a brother you've decided that it's too difficult I think people would understand that. I don't think it's fair to find some big political split or divide here.

James Forsyth

Miliband’s dilemma

From our UK edition

The day after the leader’s speech is always a slightly flat time at a party conference. But Manchester today feels particularly flat. Everyone knows that the two big political stories are happening down in London: David Miliband’s expected announcement that he is not standing for the shadow Cabinet and the Fox flap. One of the challenges for Ed Miliband is going to be asserting his authority with his parliamentary colleagues, most of whom didn’t vote for him. Added to this is the fact that many of them remember him as a young bag-carrier. Members of the shadow Cabinet were openly mocking his ‘new generation’ line last night. All this is going to make his performances in the Commons chamber more important than usual.

Peter Hoskin

Liam Fox does a David Miliband

From our UK edition

At least the political fates have a sense of humour. No sooner had David Miliband's frustration screamed into view last night, than the Tories were hit by a story that was similar in several regards: the leaked Liam Fox letter, expressing his anger over spending cuts. Here are a handful of those similarities: 1) Leakage. David Miliband's words for Harriet Harman were meant to be for their ears only, but the TV cameras picked them up. Similarly, Fox's letter was meant to be between him and the PM – but now it's splashed across the front page of the Telegraph. The only difference is that the Fox letter has been put out by someone in Whitehall, a politically interested actor.

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

David Miliband torpedos his brother’s big speech

From our UK edition

Make no mistake: David Miliband has handled himself with a fair amount of dignity over the past few days. But now some of his frustration has simmered to the surface. ITV news cameras were trained on him earlier, and caught him leaning towards Harriet Harman as she applauded his brother's claim that the Iraq War was "wrong" (see from two minutes into this video). According to the lipreaders, he says to her: "Why are clapping? You voted for it." To which she replies, "I'm clapping because he's leader and I'm supporting him." The elder Miliband does not look impressed. To be honest – and although I didn't support the Iraq War myself – I feel some sympathy for his position here.

Monday

Peter Hoskin

The speech that David Miliband would have given on Saturday?

From our UK edition

Caveats about positioning after the event, of course, but Andrew Pierce's account of the speech that David Miliband would have given on Saturday is still worth noting down: "You could have heard a pin drop in the conference hall when the new Labour leader delivered his acceptance speech. Far from being triumphalist, he issued a stark and unwelcome warning that shocked the Party: it had to change, or lose the next election. Only minutes after the applause had died down on Gordon Brown’s valedictory address, his successor savaged Brown’s record as Chancellor and Prime Minister. He mocked the claim that Labour had ended the cycle of boom and bust.

Fraser Nelson

The penny drops

From our UK edition

David Miliband is a tease. The speech he just gave was one of his best: it was self-deprecating, had gravitas, humour, and he spoke down to the Tories, telling William Hague what statesmanship was about. A monstrous conceit, CoffeeHousers may argue, but a Labour leader needs a bit of that; to make out that he's the real leader-in-waiting, up against lightweights. There was his trademark little bit of grit in the speech: he praised the troops, the Afghan mission and criticised Cameron for reducing British diplomacy to trade missions (Con Coughlin made the same point in a Spectator cover piece recently). My point: that this was a measurably better speech than the one his little brother made on Saturday. And I'll bet it's better than the speech Red Ed will make tomorrow.

Peter Hoskin

The defeated brother delivers a winning speech

From our UK edition

David Miliband's address to the Labour conference ended as it began: with a  standing ovation. Sentimentality and sympathy, perhaps – but it was also deserved. This was a speech that his younger sibling will be hard pressed to match tomorrow. Indeed, I doubt even MiliD has matched it himself before now It began, of course, with an attempt to massage out the tensions of the past few days. There were some gags about how Miliband had draft speeches for Saturday and Tuesday on his computer - "so I've got a couple of speeches to draw on." And he implored Labour to unite behind his brother – "we have a great new leader and we've got to get behind him." He added, by way of a fraternal backslap, "I'm incredibly proud of my brother". So far, so smooth.

David Blackburn

Oh brother, where art thou?

From our UK edition

All eyes have turned to the future Labour front bench, particularly the identity of George Osborne’s shadow. Ed Balls has made his most obvious pitch yet. In a piece for the Guardian, bluntly titled ‘Now let’s offer a real choice – and nail the Tory lie on cuts', he writes: ‘Being a united party is not enough. We must also win the argument. If we do not give people a positive reason to vote Labour, rather than just a temporary outlet for their protest, we will not persuade them to stick with us come the election.   First, on the economy – of course we will need tough choices to get the deficit down.

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Ed Miliband tries to detoxify his brand

From our UK edition

The scrubbing job starts in earnest this morning, as Ed Miliband tries to erase that "Red" epithet from before his name. Exhibit A was his appearance on the Andrew Marr show, in which he took every opportunity to cast the manner of his victory in a favourable light. "If you look at this as one vote-one member, then I got more votes than anyone else," he assured us, before going on to say that he won the union vote because, "I spoke about things that matter to working people in this country." When asked whether he would sway under pressure from the union leadership, he averred, "I'm nobody's man, I'm my own man – and I'm very, very clear about that." And as a final flourish, "I'm certainly not Bob Crow's man.

Saturday

James Forsyth

The dignity of David Miliband

From our UK edition

We spend a lot of time criticising politicians so it behoves us to praise one when they behave with as much dignity as David Miliband has today. He has lost the Labour leadership election by the narrowest of margins and despite winning among both party members and MPs, but there has not been even a hint of bitterness or irriation in his behaviour. After the result, David addressed his team, telling them to rally around his brother. He told them their job was to ensure that Labour keeps the pressure on the coalition through the comprehensive spending review. Right now, David Miliband is touring the conference hotel, talking to conference delegates. On his face, there is no sign of the disappointment that he must be feeling.

James Forsyth

The aftermath of Labour’s contest

From our UK edition

As soon as the first round result popped up the screen, an expert on the Labour electoral college turned to me and said ‘Ed has won’. David was not far enough ahead on first preferences to win. But it was also clear that David was likely to win MPs and members — that Ed was going to win thanks to the union vote. Now, the union vote is no longer a bloc vote. But in terms of legitimacy it is widely perceived to trail the members and MPs sections. The nature of his victory will make Ed Miliband’s task harder over the next few weeks, the Red Ed tag is now more dangerous to him.

Fraser Nelson

Will Ed Miliband face facts?

From our UK edition

I knew that David Miliband had lost the moment I saw him walk in the room, smiling like Michael Portillo on election night 1997. And when I saw Ed Balls look of pure murder: his enemy had won. Time to destroy. We saw a tension in this result: the MPs and members leaned towards David, who had a tough message on the deficit, who defended the Iraq war, who basically had an agenda for government. Whereas Ed Miliband's agenda is for opposition: he'll be marching alongside the unions the day before Osborne's spending review. As I say in the News of the World tomorrow, Ed will ooze left wing morals and righteous anger and that will work well in opposition. But as Michael Foot found in 1983, it means you strike the country as being not quite serious about government.

Peter Hoskin

The unions deliver Ed Miliband to the throne

From our UK edition

In the end, it was all quite exciting. After four months of soporific campaigning, after a speech by Gordon Brown, after tribute video upon tribute video, it all came down to an astonishingly tense round of results. And Ed Miliband edged out his brother by just over 1 percentage point overall, 50.6 to 49.4. It may have been the outcome that most punters expected coming into today – but it is not one that many would have predicted, with any confidence, back in May. Looking at the full voting split, a less flattering picture emerges. David Miliband actually won two of the three voting blocks: the MPs turned out 53-47 in his favour, the members 54-46 likewise. But it was the unions wot won it for Ed: the brothers gave him their votes in a 60-40 ratio.

Peter Hoskin

Ed Miliband elected Labour leader: live blog

From our UK edition

1704, PH: We'll leave it there, although we'll have more reaction on Coffee House shortly. 1702, PH: I've already forgotten Miliband's final line, although it involved the phrase "new generation". Not a great speech, but some turnaround for him over the course of the contest. 1700, PH: Ooh, what does that mean for Ed Balls? Miliband says that, "I do believe we've got to reduce the deficit, but we've got to do more to help the country". 1700, JF: It is what Labour MPs were calling the Doomsday scenario, Ed loses MPs and Members but wins thanks to massive support in the union section. Tonight there will be those who will question the legitimacy of a leader who did not win the majority support of either his MPs or his party members.

Peter Hoskin

The real battle begins tomorrow

From our UK edition

So what's all the fuss about today, then? Ah, yes, the election of the new Labour leader. We should know the result around 1640 this afternoon – but, this morning, most commentators are indulging in the idea that Ed has won it. The younger Miliband and his team said to be optimistic, his elder brother less so. At the very least, a remarkable turnaround has taken place. Just before the contest began, MiliD was some way ahead of his sibling in the bookies' calculations. Now, Ladbrokes have suspended betting on MiliE. What happens today, though, is in some respects less important than what happens tomorrow. Today will be the day for triumph and commiseration, for tubthumping speeches about taking Labour back into government.

Friday

James Forsyth

It’s all over

From our UK edition

The word here in Westminster is that the result of the Labour leadership contest has been certified. The significance of this is that it means the result is not close enough for the party officials to think that there is any need for a recount.

David Blackburn

David Miliband preparing for defeat

From our UK edition

There are rumours swirling around Westminster, supposedly issuing from the elder Miliband’s camp, that David Miliband already knows he's lost. As we know, he has said he will serve loyally under Ed Miliband. But there has been enough reported bad blood between the brothers to suggest that defeat would leave him inconsolable.

Peter Hoskin

Hancock strikes again<font size="1"><font face="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><br /> </span></font></font>

From our UK edition

Yesterday, Matthew Hancock constructed what you might call the defensive part of the government's argument on cuts: an explanation of how spending restraint can be good for the country. Today, he strides forward with the offensive component: an attack dossier that asks of the new Labour leader, "What would you cut, Mr Miliband?" By Hancock's calculations, David Miliband needs to set out £55 billion of cuts to meet his deficit reduction plans. For Ed Miliband, that figure hits £67 billion. The attack is two-pronged. First, it pushes the idea – contra Ed Balls – that cuts are necessary. And, second, it puts the Labour leader immediately on the back foot.

Peter Hoskin

Ed Balls steps up his bid for the shadow chancellorship

From our UK edition

With the result but a day away, there's plenty of radio chatter about the Labour leadership election this morning. The Guardian reports that MiliD will work for MiliE if he loses. The FT observes Harriet Harman shifting towards the Eds' position on the deficit, even if she is remaining neutral in the contest itself. A Populus poll for the Times (£) suggests that Gordon Brown is currently more popular among Labour supporters than either of the Milibands (which is deeply amusing). And Political Betting is calling it for Ed Miliband. But perhaps the most noteworthy contributions come courtesy of Ed Balls, compiled and skilfully analysed by Sunder Katwala over at Next Left.

Thursday

David Blackburn

Mili-monomania

From our UK edition

No doubt attempting to affect affability and languid charm, one of the Milibands has goaded his team into mastering a hybrid of semaphore and tic-tac to bring him early news of the leadership election result. It’s unclear which of the brothers has descended into total monomania, but it’s sobering to think he may have his finger on the button one day. The ballot closed yesterday, but idle speculation about the shadow cabinet has opened. The Miliband that loses is expected to be encouraged to run for shadow chancellor, though from what I hear Yvette Cooper or Ed Balls are the favourites for that prize.