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Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British Labour Party politician, who is the current Leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition of the United Kingdom. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005 and served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Gordon Brown.
Born in London, Miliband graduated from Oxford University and the London School of Economics, becoming first a Labour Party researcher, and rising to become one of Chancellor Gordon Brown's confidants, being appointed Chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers. Miliband was elected the Member of Parliament for the South Yorkshire constituency of Doncaster North in the 2005 election.
As Prime Minister, Gordon Brown appointed Miliband as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in his first Cabinet on 28 June 2007. Miliband was subsequently promoted to the post of Secretary of State for the newly-created Department of Energy and Climate Change, a position he held from 3 October 2008 to 12 May 2010. On 25 September 2010, after a contest in which his brother David Miliband also stood, he was elected as Leader of the Labour Party, with the support of 50.654% of the electoral college.
Background and early life
Born in London, Miliband is the younger son of Polish Jewish immigrants. His mother, Marion Kozak, survived the Holocaust thanks to being protected by Polish Catholics. His father, the Marxist intellectual Ralph Miliband (a Brussels native whose parents were from Warsaw, Poland), fled Belgium to the UK during World War II. As a teenager, he reviewed films and plays on LBC Radio's Young London programme as one of its "Three O'Clock Reviewers", and worked as an intern to Tony Benn.
Education
Miliband was educated at Primrose Hill Primary School, Camden and then Haverstock Comprehensive School in the Chalk Farm area of north London. After completing his A Levels, he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gaining a Bachelor of Arts, followed by the London School of Economics, where he obtained a Masters in Economics.
Political biography
After a brief career in television journalism, Miliband became a speechwriter and researcher for Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Harriet Harman in 1993, and then for Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown the following year. In 1997, following Labour's landslide election victory, Miliband was appointed as one of Gordon Brown's special advisers with specific responsibility as a speechwriter. In 1999, Miliband was involved in the process of building Labour's manifesto for the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections. He was spotted leaving the Scottish Labour Party's headquarters on the night that a key policy meeting was held, involving the Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar and senior party officials, to consider the party's election strategy and details of Labour's manifesto. As a result, Miliband resigned from his post as Special Adviser at the Treasury, to work on the Scottish election campaign. It was reported that part of Miliband's Scottish role was to take charge of Labour's rebuttal operation.
Harvard
On 25 July 2002 it was announced that Miliband would take a 12-month unpaid sabbatical from the Treasury to be a visiting scholar at the Centre for European Studies of Harvard University for two semesters. He spent his time at Harvard teaching economics, and stayed there after September 2003 teaching a course titled "What's Left? The Politics of Social Justice". He was granted access to Senator John Kerry and reported back to Brown on the Presidential hopeful's progress. In January 2004 he was appointed chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers, directing the UK's long-term economic planning.
In government
In early 2005, Miliband resigned from the Treasury to stand for election. He beat off a challenge from Michael Dugher, then a special advisor to Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, to be the Labour candidate in the safe Labour seat of Doncaster North. Gordon Brown visited Doncaster North during the general election campaign to support his former adviser. Miliband was elected to Parliament on 5 May. In Tony Blair's cabinet reshuffle in May 2006, he was made the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office.
In June 2007, when Brown became Prime Minister, Miliband was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and promoted to the Cabinet. This meant that he and his brother David Miliband became the first brothers to serve in Cabinet since Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938. He was given the task of drafting Labour's manifesto for the next general election.
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
On 3 October 2008, Miliband was promoted to Secretary of State for the newly-created Department of Energy and Climate Change in a Cabinet reshuffle. On 16 October, Miliband announced that the British government would legislate to oblige itself to cut greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050, rather than the 60% cut in carbon dioxide emissions previously announced.
Copenhagen Summit 2009
Miliband represented the UK at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, from which emerged a global commitment to provide an additional $10bn a year to fight the effects of climate change, with an additional $100bn a year provided by 2020. The conference was not able to achieve a legally-binding agreement however. Miliband accused China of deliberately foiling attempts at a binding agreement; China explicitly denied this, accusing British politicians of engaging in "political scheme".
Parliamentary expenses
During 2009, Ed Miliband was named by the Daily Telegraph as one of the "saints" of the expenses scandal, for claiming one of the lowest amounts of expenses in the House of Commons, despite being entitled to more than the average MP because of his role as Secretary of State.
2010 Labour Party leadership election
Main article: Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2010| The Right Honourable Ed Miliband MP | |
|---|---|
| Candidate for Leader of the Labour Party | |
| Election date result announced 25 September 2010 | |
| Opponent(s) | Diane Abbott Ed Balls Andy Burnham David Miliband |
| Incumbent | Harriet Harman (pro tempore) |
| Website | Official website |
Campaign
On 14 May 2010, following his brother's announcement of his own candidacy, Ed Miliband announced that he would stand as a candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party, following the resignation of Gordon Brown three days earlier. He launched his campaign back at his alma mater, the LSE, which holds strong family history ties, and was nominated by 62 fellow Labour MPs. The other candidates were Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and his elder brother David Miliband.
On 23 May, former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock announced that he would endorse Miliband's campaign to become the next Leader, saying that he had "the capacity to inspire people" and that he had "strong values and the ability to 'lift' people". Other senior Labour figures who backed Ed included former Deputy Leader Roy Hattersley. By 9 June, the deadline for entry into the Labour leadership contest, Miliband had been nominated by just over 24% of the PLP, double the amount required.
By September, Miliband had received the support of 6 Trade Unions, including both Unite and UNISON, 151 of the Constituency Labour Parties, 3 affiliated socialist societies, and half of the Labour MEPs.
He won the election, the result of which was announced on 25 September 2010, after third and fourth preferences votes were counted, beating his brother by 1.3%. He had his first Prime Minister's Questions as Labour Leader on 13 October 2010, raising questions about the government's announced removal of non-means tested child benefit.
Leader of the Opposition
Main article: Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)On becoming leader of the Labour Party on 25 September 2010, Miliband also became Leader of the Opposition. At the age of 40, he is the youngest of Labour's ten leaders since World War II. Miliband is also the first British person with two parents of Jewish ethnicity to be leader of the Labour Party.
Shadow Cabinet
Main article: Shadow Cabinet of Ed MilibandFollowing the election on 7 October 2010, Ed Miliband appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 8 October 2010. Amongst others he appointed Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Ed Balls became Shadow Home Secretary and Yvette Cooper was chosen as Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Personal life
His current partner is Justine Thornton, a Cambridge-educated barrister. They met in 2004, and live together in north London where he grew up. They have one son.
His previous partner was former Blair aide Liz Lloyd, who went to school in Guildford with his former Cabinet colleague James Purnell. At the end of July 1998 it was reported that they had split up.
After previously commenting that his religious views were a private matter, in an interview with Radio 5 Live in reply to a question from Nicky Campbell he was quoted as saying, "I don't believe in God personally, but I have great respect for those people who do."
References
- Robert Mendick and Matthew Day "The miraculous escape of Marion Miliband", Daily Telegraph, 18 May 2010
- Ed Miliband: Labour leader's 2010 conference speech in full, BBC News, 28 September 2010
- Andy Beckett "In the house of the rising sons", The Guardian, 28 February 2004
- Josephs, Bernard (22 December 2006). "David Miliband: Red to green in a generation". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Benn, Tony (1995). The Benn Diaries. Arrow. ISBN 978-0099634119.
- "Miliband declares New Labour dead - Rise to Power, Education". London: FT.com. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
- The Scotsman, 6 April 1999, p. 1
- The Scotsman, 8 April 1999, p. 11
- The Scotsman, 23 April 1999., p. 13
- Fraser Nelson, "Brown confirms adviser's sojourn in Harvard", Scotsman, 26 July 2002, p. 9.
- Jim Pickard (25 September 2010). "Profile: Ed Miliband". The Financial Times. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
- Richard Adams, "City diary", The Guardian, 30 September 2003, p. 19.
- The Scotsman, 6 March 2004, p. 12
- Andrew Grice, "Brown shuffles advisers to prepare for Balls' departure", The Independent, 10 January 2004, p. 2.
- Yorkshire Post, 26 March 2005
- Doncaster Free Press, 14 April 2005
- "At-a-glance: Tony Blair reshuffle". BBC News. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- "Brown unveils huge Cabinet revamp". BBC News. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
- Parkinson, Justin (3 October 2008). "As it happened: Brown reshuffle". BBC News. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
- "Tougher climate target unveiled". BBC News. 16 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
- Miliband, Ed (20 December 2009). "The road from Copenhagen". The Guardian. London.
- China rejects UK claims it hindered Copenhagen talks, BBC, 22 December 2009
- "MPs' expenses: The saints". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
- "Ed Miliband to take on brother David in leader battle". BBC News. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
- "Ed Miliband launches leadership battle with Living Wage campaign". Camden New Journal.
- http://www.labourlist.org/ed-milibands-plp-support---running-totals
- "Ed Miliband is elected leader of the Labour Party". BBC News. 25 September 2010.
- Ed Miliband to make prime minister's questions debut BBC News, published 13 October 2010
- "Victorious Ed Miliband becomes youngest Labour leader since war". The Daily Record. 26 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
- Hardcastle, Ephraim (29 September 2010). "Miliband the first Jewish Labour leader." London: The Daily Mail. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- "Labour's New Shadow Cabinet". Labour Party (UK). Retrieved 16 October 2010.
- The Independent on Sunday, 7 June 2009
- "Ed Miliband 'will marry' but politics 'got in the way'". BBC News. 29 September 2010.
- The Independent, 14 August 1997, p. 5
- The Guardian, 31 December 1997, p. 19
- Jasper Gerard, "Separate lives", The Times, 29 July 1998, p. 18.
- "Ed Miliband: I don't believe in God". London: The Daily Telegraph. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
External links
- Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North official site
- Ed Miliband for Labour Leader official campaign website
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byKevin Hughes | Member of Parliament for Doncaster North 2005–present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded byHilary Armstrong | Minister for the Cabinet Office 2007–2008 |
Succeeded byLiam Byrne |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 2007–2008 | ||
| Preceded byOffice Created | Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 2008–2010 |
Succeeded byChris Huhne |
| Preceded byHarriet Harman | Leader of the Opposition 2010–present |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded byHarriet Harman (interim) | Leader of the Labour Party 2010–present |
Incumbent |
| Ed Miliband | ||
|---|---|---|
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