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Let’s leave to one side, at least for the purposes of this post, David Miliband’s record as foreign secretary in the last Labour government. It would take a heart of stone not to feel sympathy for him over the events of the last week. To lose the Labour leadership for which he fought long and [...]

Here are some first thoughts on what Ed Miliband’s wafer-thin election victory in the contest to lead Labour might mean… 1. He’s going to have to work hard to prove he’s his own man. There’s no doubt the right-wing press and the Conservatives will do all they can to show Ed Miliband is little more [...]

In an hour’s time we shall know who is the new leader of the Labour party. Though the bookies now make Ed Miliband favourite, my hunch is that older brother David will get the nod, just. We shall soon see. The best guide I’ve read on what to look out for as the votes are [...]

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the early race for the party presidency, the London mayoral selection, Trident, and the Labour leadership. Over 400 party members have responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results. This Saturday we find out who will be the next [...]

Three quick links to must-read articles this past week, all with compelling arguments to make: The Cameroons already thinking the unthinkable (Bagehot, The Economist) Tory MP Nick Boles’ naively sincere suggestion the Tories and Lib Dems will band together at the next election has given rise to much meandering ‘could they really?’ commentary. I think it’s 99% certain not to  [ Read More ]

The weekend papers were full of speculation about the Labour leadership contest, which as it draws to a close appears to be a nail-bitingly close finish between the Brothers Miliband. According to pollster YouGov, Ed Miliband is set to sneak victory by the closest of margins after second preferences are taken into account; though the [...]

David Cameron has ‘let it be known’ (ie, his press team briefed the Guardian) that shadow foreign secretary David Miliband “poses the greatest threat to the Conservative party of all the candidates in the Labour leadership contest”. How to interpret this? Is Dave’s backing of David a cunning bluff: the Tory leader backing the most [...]

The Guardian reports today: Owners of homes worth more than £2m should pay an annual “mansion tax” to help the poor, Labour leadership contender David Miliband said today. The shadow foreign secretary said the levy would raise £1.7bn to restore housing benefit for the least well-off. The proposal – outlined in an interview with the [...]

With Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg set to announce 5th May, 2011, as the date of the referendum on electoral reform, David Miliband – currently the leading contender to become the next Labour leader – was this morning asked the direct question whether he would back the move to the Alternative Vote. His answer was [...]

Before the election, Lib Dem Voice launched How Authoritarian is your MP?, a website which ranked how authoritarian – or liberal – were MPs in the 2005-10 parliament based on their voting record on 10 key issues. These ranged from ID cards to detention without trial to freedom of speech. The five candidates for the [...]