David miliband

“Did he know who you were? I mean, not to be disrespectful, but he has been away for two and a half years…” So Five Live’s Phil Wiliams asked David Miliband who was talking about his conversation with Peter Moore who has just been released from Iraqi captivity. Brilliant image. The guy gets out of prison, then there’s a call from this nerdy Blairite bag carrier claiming to be foreign secretary. Yegawds, he’d say, what’s happened? Worse, Gordon Brown had become Prime Minister and irreparably trashed the British economy in the space of 24 months. Britain has now joined Zimbabwe in printing money to fund state spending. At the end

It’s obviously excellent news that the five British sailors incarcerated by Iran on Monday night have been released without incident. Exacerbating already strained diplomatic tensions would have been an enormous temptation to the Iranian regime and David Miliband is right to commend their “professional” conduct in this matter. Miliband said:  “The Iranian authorities gave us every indication that they wanted to deal with this in a straightforward, consular way. It was never a political matter and I welcome the fact they have dealt with it in this professional way.” The Foreign Secretary added, “it proves that diplomacy can work”. Well yes, but there is a world of difference between Iran

Today’s Times carries a cracking account of all the wheeling and dealing that went on during the EU jobs fair this week.  Here are some of the most striking points that I’ve culled from it: i) Brown rejected advice from Mandelson and other ministers that he should try and secure one of the EU’s financial roles for a British candidate. ii) There are claims that Brown was “persuaded” into accepting the EU High Representative role for Britain by Europe’s Socialist leaders along with José Manuel Barroso. iii) There are also claims that Brown did a deal with the French to get Baroness Ashton appointed, by which a French MEP, Michel

The process to pick the two new EU jobs – that of Council President and High Representative – is nearing completion and Britain looks set to walk away empty-handed. Tony Blair’s candidacy is unacceptable to many EU leaders – both because of his record, particularly over the Iraq War, and because of Britain’s odd-man status in Europe. Last night at the Queen’s Diplomatic Reception, a senior ambassador remarked to me that if Blair had really wanted the EU job, he should have started lobbying for it a few years ago – or at least shown a post-No 10 interest in European affairs. Blair, said the envoy, could have given a

I’m midway through the Andrew Marr show – did the papers and am going back on in a bit to nod appreciatively at Sting – and the main topic is Miliband as EU Foreign Secretary. That Banana boy is being spoken of is not a compliment. The person they want in that job will be a cipher who will obey the orders of the ministers and visit cities that only Robin Cook* would have heard of. But it wil keep him out of the running to challenge Ed Balls for the Labour party leadership. Sting is banging on about how “we need the winter” and it is somehow under threat

Poland’s Chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich, told the Today programme that Michael Kaminski is, as far as he knows, not an anti-semite today – though the Jewish leader made clear he “could not read his heart”, and thought Mr Kaminski’s teenage views extremist. The rabbi’s words will further fuel the spat between David Miliband and William Hague. Expect the Shadow Foreign Secretary to renew his calls today for an apology to be issued to Kaminski. Expect the Foreign Secretary to ignore this and find support, including from within the Jewish community, to his charges against Mr Kaminski and his accusation that the Tories mingle with madmen. Both parties think the fight

Last night in a speech at the IISS, David Milliband laid out the case against the Tories’ Europe policy. As he started off saying: “It is very strongly in the British national interest for the EU to develop a strong foreign policy; that to be frightened of European foreign policy is blinkered, fatalistic and wrong; that Britain should embrace it, shape it and lead it.” In that one sentence lies the case for Britain’s role in shaping a liberal, open and outward-focused EU. It is probably also the line of attack that the Foreign Secretary will use against the Tories until election day and possibly beyond, if Miliband eventually assumes

The Lisbon Treaty decrees that Europe must have a Foreign Minister. It is not clear exactly what the Secretary of State will do, but David Miliband is being widely tipped for the role. According to one diplomat quoted in the Times and the Guardian, Miliband has “good European credentials and a brilliant mind.” The minister made famous (rather unfairly) by banana-wielding and a penchant for Indian donkeys is undoubtedly pro-European: he is in favour of further integration and deeply opposed to Cameron’s euroscpetic Tories and their European allies: so he ticks all of Brussels’ boxes. But would he take the job? The Labour party’s Titantic predicament is now so advanced

It’s Tuesday, so it’s time to sift through Rachel Sylvester’s column for juicy quotes.  In her latest, she saves the best for last: a Cabinet minister saying that “It’s up to the brotherhood now”.  No, not that brotherhood – but the brothers Miliband, Ed and David.  The intimation being that they need to take over from Brown – and sharpish. There’s been plenty of speculation about the Milibands recently, so this latest titbit shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.  But, to my mind, it’s interesting how this minister packages Ed and David together – as the “brotherhood”.  It has generally been assumed that one or the other wouldn’t

David Miliband has really gone for it in the Observer. Far from apologising for his Labour conference attacks on David Cameron’s right-wing alliance in the European parliament, he has suggested that Churchill would have been ashamed of the modern Tories for getting into bed with Poland’s Michal Kaminski and Latvia’s Roberts Zile.  I interviewed Mr Kaminski last week, and I found his responses to my questions on the wartime massacre of Jews by Poles at Jedwabne in north east Poland unconvincing. His comments to me have been picked up by The Observer today. Most worrying is the idea that he believes this massacre to be of a different order to

Much has been made of David Miliband’s vitriol against the Tories and their EU parliament grouping, and the intimation that Eric Pickles is Anti-Semitic. William Hague complained yesterday, and has now formalised that complaint by writing to the Foreign Secretary, highlighting the factual errors and misconceptions that dominated Miliband’s speech. Hague ends the letter by writing: ‘Democratic politics is at its best when it is a civilised and constructive debate between different points of view. It is deeply regrettable that you have listened to those who prefer the politics of slur and smear. Your duty as the country’s Foreign Secretary is to support our nation’s good relations with our allies.

If there was an award for most improved conference speaker it would go to David Miliband. Last year his lacklustre effort helped put an end to his putative leadership challenge. This year he showed delegates why he might be up to the job of being Labour leader after the next election. He has dropped his voice making him sound more serious and cut out the gurning. His comments about military force which sounded so absurd last year carried more weight this time round. However, he’s far from presentationally perfect. He still managed to get ahead of his autocue and hit the microphone with his hand when trying to emphasise a

Danny Finkelstein’s right: there are some surprising results in today’s ComRes poll for the Independent.  The one which catches my eye is that David Miliband would be the most successful alternative leader at reducing the Tories’ poll lead.  Along with Jack Straw, the poll suggests, he would make Labour the largest party in a hung parliament. Now, I’m frequently surprised at how popular the elder Miliband remains in Labour circles.  But – after the failed coup of last year, the banana and Heseltine moments, and that disastrous trip to India, among other embarrassments – I’d assumed that that popularity wouldn’t stretch to more general voters, and that, say, Alan Johnson

 A great piece of digging by the FT’s Jim Pickard: ‘In theory we won’t know the exact line-up at Labour Party Conference until the weekend. But I have it on good authority that David Miliband won’t be talking until Thursday – at which point most sane people will have packed up and gone home. Could this be some kind of punishment for his banana-wielding “disloyalty” at last year’s conference? Perish the thought.’