Ralph Miliband left his academic post at the London School of Economics in 1972 to take up a chair at the University of Leeds as a professor of Politics. His family moved to Leeds with him in 1973; Miliband attended Featherbank Infant School in Horsforth between 1974 and 1977, during which time he became a fan of Leeds United.[11]
Owing to his father's later employment as a roving teacher, Miliband spent two spells living in Boston, Massachusetts, one year when he was seven and one middle school term when he was twelve.[12] Miliband remembered his time in the US as some of his happiest, during which he became a fan of American culture, watching Dallas[5] and following the Boston Red Sox[13] and the New England Patriots.[14]
Between 1978 and 1981, Ed Miliband attended Primrose Hill Primary School, near Primrose Hill, in Camden and then from 1981 to 1989, Haverstock Comprehensive School in Chalk Farm. He learned to play the violin while at school,[15] and as a teenager, he reviewed films and plays on LBC Radio's Young London programme as one of its fortnightly "Three O'Clock Reviewers". After completing his O-levels, he worked as an intern to family friend Tony Benn, the MP for Chesterfield.[16]
In 1992, after graduating from the University of Oxford, Miliband began his working career in the media as a researcher to co-presenter Andrew Rawnsley in the Channel 4 show A Week in Politics.[17] In 1993, Shadow Chief Secretary to the TreasuryHarriet Harman approached Rawnsley to recruit Miliband as her policy researcher and speechwriter.[18] At the time, Yvette Cooper also worked for Harman as part of Labour's Shadow Treasury team.
On 25 July 2002, it was announced that Miliband would take a 12-month unpaid sabbatical from HM Treasury to be a visiting scholar at the Center for European Studies of Harvard University for two semesters.[21] He spent his time at Harvard teaching economics,[22] and stayed there after September 2003 for an additional semester teaching a course titled "What's Left? The Politics of Social Justice".[23] During this time, he was granted "access" to SenatorJohn Kerry and reported to Brown on the presidential hopeful's progress.[24] After Miliband returned to the UK in January 2004 Gordon Brown appointed him Chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers as a replacement for Ed Balls, with specific responsibility for directing the UK's long-term economic planning.[25]
Parliamentary career
In early 2005, Miliband resigned his advisory role to HM Treasury to stand for election. Kevin Hughes, then the Labour MP for Doncaster North, announced in February of that year that he would be standing down at the next election due to being diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Miliband applied for selection to be the candidate in the safe Labour seat and won, beating off a close challenge from Michael Dugher, then a SPAD to Defence SecretaryGeoff Hoon.[26]
Gordon Brown visited Doncaster North during the general election campaign to support his former adviser.[27] Miliband was elected on 5 May 2005, with 55.5% of the vote and a majority of 12,656.[28][29] He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 23 May, responding to comments made by future SpeakerJohn Bercow.[30] In Blair's frontbench reshuffle in May 2006, he was made Minister for the Third Sector, with responsibility for voluntary and charity organisations.[31][32]
On 3 October 2008, Miliband was promoted to become Secretary of State for the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change in a cabinet reshuffle.[36] 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.[37]
In March 2009, while Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Miliband attended the UK premiere of climate change film The Age of Stupid, where he was ambushed by actor Pete Postlethwaite, who threatened to return his OBE and vote for any party other than Labour if the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station were to be given the go-ahead by the government.[38] A month later, Miliband announced to the House of Commons a change to the government's policy on coal-fired power stations, saying that any potential new coal-fired power stations would be unable to receive government consent unless they could demonstrate that they would be able to effectively capture and bury 25% of the emissions they produce immediately, with a view to seeing that rise to 100% of emissions by 2025. This, a government source told the Guardian, effectively represented "a complete rewrite of UK energy policy for the future".[39]
Miliband represented the UK at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, from which emerged a global commitment to provide an additional US$10 billion a year to fight the effects of climate change, with an additional $100 billion a year provided by 2020.[40] The conference was not able to achieve a legally binding agreement. Miliband accused China of deliberately foiling attempts at a binding agreement; China explicitly denied this, accusing British politicians of engaging in a "political scheme".[41]
During the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, Miliband was named by the Daily Telegraph as one of the "saints" of the scandal, due to his claiming one of the lowest amounts of expenses in the House of Commons and submitting no claims that later had to be paid back.[42]
On 23 May, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock announced that he would endorse Ed Miliband's campaign, saying that he had "the capacity to inspire people" and that he had "strong values and the ability to 'lift' people".[46] Other senior Labour figures who backed the younger Miliband included Tony Benn and former deputy leaders Roy Hattersley and Margaret Beckett. By 9 June, the deadline for entry into the leadership election, Miliband had been nominated by just over 24% of the Parliamentary Labour Party, double the threshold. By September, Miliband had received the support of six trade unions, including both Unite and UNISON, 151 of 650 Constituency Labour Parties, three affiliated socialist societies, and half of Labour MEPs.[47]
Miliband subsequently won the election, the result of which was announced on 25 September 2010, after second, third and fourth preferences votes were counted, achieving the support of 50.654% of the electoral college, defeating his brother by 1.3%.[48] In the fourth and final stage of the redistribution of votes after three candidates had been eliminated, Ed Miliband led in the trade unions and affiliated organisations section of the electoral college (19.93% of the total to David's 13.40%), but in both the MPs and MEPs section (15.52% to 17.81%), and Constituency Labour Party section (15.20% to 18.14%), came second. In the final round, Ed Miliband won with a total of 175,519 votes to David's 147,220 votes.[49]
Leader of the Opposition
Miliband's tenure as Labour leader was characterised by a leftward shift in his party's policies under the One Nation Labour branding which replaced the New Labour branding, and by opposition to the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government's cuts to the public sector. Miliband also abolished the electoral college system to elect the leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party, and replaced it with a "one member, one vote" system in 2014.
The first election to the Shadow Cabinet that took place under Miliband's leadership was on 7 October 2010. Ending days of speculation, David Miliband announced that he would not seek election to the Shadow Cabinet on 29 September, the day nominations closed, saying he wanted to avoid "constant comparison" with his brother Ed.[50] The three other defeated candidates for the Labour leadership all stood in the election, though Diane Abbott failed to win enough votes to gain a place.
Following the election, Miliband unveiled his Shadow Cabinet on 8 October 2010. Among others, he appointed Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Yvette Cooper was chosen as Shadow Foreign Secretary, and both defeated Labour leadership candidates Ed Balls and Andy Burnham were given senior roles, becoming Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Education Secretary respectively. Burnham was also given responsibility for overseeing Labour's election co-ordination.
Miliband's first electoral tests as Labour Leader came in the elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and various councils across England, excluding London, on 5 May 2011. The results for Labour were described as a "mixed bag", with the party performing well in Wales – falling just one seat short of an overall majority and forming the next Welsh Government on its own – and making large gains from the Liberal Democrats in northern councils, including Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.
Miliband launched Labour's campaign for the 2012 local elections with a speech in Birmingham, accusing the coalition government of "betrayal", and claiming that it "lacked the values" that Britain needed.[53] The Labour results were described as a success, with the party building on its performance the previous year in the north of England and Wales, consolidating its position in northern cities and winning control of places such as Cardiff and Swansea.[54] Labour performed well in the Midlands and South of England, winning control of councils including Birmingham, Norwich, Plymouth and Southampton.[54] Labour was less successful in Scotland than England and Wales, but retained control of Glasgow despite predictions it would not.[54] Overall, Labour gained over 800 councillors and control of 22 councils.[54]
In April 2013, Miliband pledged ahead of the upcoming county elections that Labour would change planning laws to give local authorities greater authority to decide what shops can open in their high streets. He also said that Labour would introduce more strenuous laws relating to pay-day lenders and betting shops.[55] Labour subsequently gained nearly 300 councillors, as well as control of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire County Councils.[56][57][58]
In May 2014, Miliband led Labour through the European Parliament elections, where the party increased its number of Members of the European Parliament from 13 to 20. Labour came second with 24.4% of the vote, finishing ahead of the Conservatives but behind UKIP. This was the first time since the 1984 that the largest opposition party had failed to win the most seats in European elections.[59] On the same day, Labour polled ahead of all other parties at the local elections, winning 31% of the vote and taking control of six additional councils.
On 30 March 2015, a general election was called for 7 May. Miliband began his campaign by launching a "manifesto for business", stating that only by voting Labour would the UK's position within the European Union be secure.[60] Miliband subsequently unveiled five pledges at a rally in Birmingham which would form the focus of a future Labour government, specifically identifying policies on deficit reduction, living standards, the NHS, immigration controls and tuition fees. He included an additional pledge on housing and rent on 27 April.[61][62] On 14 April, Labour launched its full manifesto, which Miliband said was fully funded and would require no additional borrowing.[63] During this time an online campaign began known as Milifandom.
Miliband was portrayed during Labour's 2015 election campaign as being genuine in his desire to improve the lives of working people and to display progression from New Labour, but was unable to defeat interpretations of him as being ineffectual, or even cartoonish in nature. Miliband insisted that Cameron should debate him one on one as part of a televised election broadcast in order to highlight differences in policies between the two major parties, but this did not happen, with the pair instead being interviewed separately by Jeremy Paxman as part of the first major televised political broadcast of the election involving multiple parties.[64]
Despite opinion polls leading up to the general election predicting a tight result, Labour decisively lost the 7 May general election to the Conservatives. Although gaining 22 seats, Labour lost all but one of its MPs in Scotland and ended up with a net loss of 26 seats, failing to win a number of key marginal seats that it had expected to win comfortably. After being returned as MP for Doncaster North, Miliband stated that it had been a "difficult and disappointing" night for Labour.[65][66][67] Following Cameron's success in forming a majority government, Miliband resigned as Leader of the Labour Party on 8 May, with Harman becoming acting leader while a leadership election was initiated.[68][69]Jeremy Corbyn succeeded Miliband as leader.
In the aftermath of the referendum result, Miliband said that, although he had supported Jeremy Corbyn since his election as leader, he had "reluctantly reached the conclusion his position [was] untenable", calling for Corbyn to step down in June 2016.[75] In the ensuing contest, Miliband supported leadership challenger Owen Smith.[76] Miliband later admitted that he was "clearly wrong" to call for Corbyn's resignation.[77] In September 2016, Miliband joined the editorial board of The Political Quarterly journal, an unremunerated role.[78][79]
Renewing his previous stance on the issue in 2011, Miliband criticised Rupert Murdoch's bid to takeover telecommunications company Sky in December 2016, subsequently supporting an inquiry by Ofcom.[80][81][82]
At the snap 2017 general election, Miliband was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 60.8% and an increased majority of 14,024.[83][84]
At the 2019 general election, Miliband was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 38.7% and a decreased majority of 2,370.[85][86][87] Following the election, it was announced that Miliband would sit on a panel of party figures to overview and investigate the electoral failure.[88]
In September 2020, Miliband faced Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a debate on the UK Internal Market Bill, in a speech accusing him of "legislative hooliganism".[90]
Miliband's re-appointment to the cabinet also led to the New Statesman naming him the twenty-first most influential British left-wing figure of 2023.[94]
At the 2024 general election, Miliband was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 52.4% and an increased majority of 9,126.[95] Following Labour's victory at the general election, Miliband was appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero by Starmer. He was among several ministers under Blair and Brown to be appointed to Starmer's cabinet.[96] Two days after being appointed, Miliband lifted the offshore wind ban.
Policies and views
Miliband is generally seen as being on the soft left of the Labour Party.[97]
Self-described views
Official MP portrait, 2017
Miliband described himself as a new type of Labour politician, looking to move beyond the divisiveness of Blairism and Brownism, and calling for an end to the "factionalism and psychodramas" of Labour's past. He also repeatedly spoke of the need for a "new politics".[98]
During the Labour leadership campaign, he described himself as a socialist, and spoke out against some of the actions of the Blair ministry, including criticising its record on civil liberties and foreign policy.[99] Though he was not yet an MP at the time of the 2003 vote, Miliband was a strong critic of the Iraq War.[99][100] He backed UK military action and intervention in Afghanistan and Libya respectively.
Miliband worked closely with the think tank Policy Network on the concept of predistribution as a means to tackle what he described as 'the growing crisis in living standards'.[104] His announcement that predistribution would become a cornerstone of the UK Labour Party's economic policy was jokingly mocked by Prime Minister David Cameron during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.[105]
Though Labour remained officially neutral, he in a personal capacity supported the failed "Yes to AV" campaign in the Alternative Vote referendum on 5 May 2011, saying that it would benefit Britain's "progressive majority".[106][107] In September 2011, Miliband stated that a future Labour Government would immediately cut the cap on tuition fees for university students from £9,000 per year to £6,000, though he also stated that he remained committed to a graduate tax in the long-run.[108] Together with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Miliband also promoted a "five-point plan for jobs and growth" aimed at helping the UK economy, involving extending the bonus tax on banks pioneered by Alistair Darling, bringing forward planned long-term investment to help reduce unemployment, cutting the rate of VAT from 20% back to 17.5%, cutting VAT on home improvements to 5% for a temporary one-year period, and instigating a one-year National Insurance break to encourage employers to hire more staff.[109]
Miliband also endorsed the Blue Labour trend in the Labour Party, founded by Maurice Glasman. This was seen to have influenced his 2011 conference speech, signalling "predatory and productive capitalism".[110][111]
Miliband is progressive in regard to issues of gender and sexuality. He publicly identifies as a feminist.[112] In March 2012, Miliband pledged his support for same sex marriage. As he signed an 'equal marriage pledge', he said, "I strongly agree gay and lesbian couples should have an equal right to marry and deserve the same recognition from the state and society as anyone else."[113]
In June 2014, while speaking to the Labour Friends of Israel, Miliband stated that if he became Prime Minister he would seek "closer ties" with Israel and opposed the boycott of Israeli goods, saying that he would "resolutely oppose the isolation of Israel" and that nobody in the Labour Party should question Israel's right to exist.[114][115] He also stated that, as a Jew and a friend of Israel, he must criticise Israel when necessary, opposing the "killing of innocent Palestinian civilians".[116] Miliband criticised Israel for its conduct during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[117]
Since the end of his leadership of the Labour Party, Miliband has expressed regret for not having been "radical enough" in his manifesto, and has described himself as "not following the normal route, which is to become more right wing as you get older", but instead becoming "more left wing".[118]
Miliband with his wife Justine at the 2011 Labour Party Conference
During his time as Labour leader, Miliband criticised the Conservative Leader and Prime Minister David Cameron for "sacrificing everything on the altar of deficit reduction", and has accused him of being guilty of practising "old politics", citing alleged broken promises on areas such as crime, policing, bank bonuses, and child benefit.[120]
Miliband was also particularly critical of former Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg following the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement, accusing him of "betrayal" and of "selling-out" his party's voters. In 2010, he stated that he would demand Clegg's resignation before any Labour–Liberal Democrat coalition under his leadership.[121] In the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum campaign he refused to share a platform with Clegg, stating that he had become "too toxic" a brand and that he would harm the "Yes to AV" campaign. He shared platforms during the campaign with former Liberal Democrat Leaders Lord Ashdown and Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, the Green Party LeaderCaroline Lucas and Business SecretaryVince Cable, among others.[122] As Labour leader, Miliband made speeches aimed at winning over disaffected Liberal Democrats, identifying a difference between "The Orange Book" Lib Dems, who were closer to the Conservatives, and Lib Dems on the centre-left, offering the latter a role in helping Labour's policy review at that time.[120]
Miliband in 2007
Following the death of former Prime Minister and Conservative Leader Margaret Thatcher in 2013, Miliband spoke in a House of Commons sitting specially convened to pay tributes to her. He noted that, although he disagreed with a few of her policies, he respected "what her death means to the many, many people who admired her". He also said that Thatcher "broke the mould" in everything she had achieved in her life, and that she had had the ability to "overcome every obstacle in her path".[123] He had previously praised Thatcher shortly before the Labour Party Conference in September 2012 for creating an "era of aspiration" in the 1980s.[124]
Miliband has previously spoken positively of his brother David, praising his record as Foreign Secretary, and saying that "his door was always open" following David's decision not to stand for the Shadow Cabinet in 2010.[125] Upon David's announcement in 2013 that he would resign as a Labour MP and move to New York to head the International Rescue Committee, Miliband said that British politics would be "a poorer place" without him, and that he thought David "would once again make a contribution to British public life."[126]
When asked to choose the greatest British Prime Minister, Miliband answered with Labour's post-war Prime Minister and longest-serving Leader, Clement Attlee.[127] He has also spoken positively of his two immediate predecessors as Labour leader, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, praising their leadership and records in government.[128]
Media portrayal
Miliband was portrayed during Labour's 2015 election campaign as being genuine in his desire to improve the lives of working people and to display progression from New Labour, but was unable to defeat interpretations of him as being ineffectual, or even cartoonish in nature. Political illustrators perceived a resemblance to Wallace of the British animation Wallace & Gromit and greatly exaggerated this in caricatures; various images circulated in the press and online media of Miliband performing day-to-day activities such as eating a bacon sandwich, donating money to a beggar, and giving a kiss to his wife, all while displaying apparently awkward facial expressions.[129][130] In a March 2015 Newsnight election debate, he was challenged by Jeremy Paxman as to whether or not he was 'tough enough' to be Prime Minister, responding, "Hell yes, I'm tough enough", in reference to his reluctance to support air strikes against extremist targets in Syria.[131]
Miliband is married to Justine Thornton, a High Court Judge.[135] The couple met in 2002 and lived together in north London before becoming engaged in March 2010 and married in May 2011.[136][137][138] They have two sons, Daniel, born 2009, and Samuel, born 2010.[139][140]
Miliband is of Jewish heritage — the first ethnically Jewish leader of the Labour Party[141][142] — and describes himself as a Jewish atheist.[143][144] After marrying Thornton in a civil ceremony on 27 May 2011, he paid tribute to his Jewish heritage by following the tradition of breaking a glass.[145][146] In 2012, Miliband wrote, "Like many others from Holocaust families, I have a paradoxical relationship with this history. On one level I feel intimately connected with it – this happened to my parents and grandparents. On another, it feels like a totally different world."[147]
^Vidal, John; Jowit, Juliette (24 April 2009). "Ed Miliband promises new era of clean coal – but who will pay?". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 April 2009. Instead of a laissez-faire system where companies told government what they wanted to build and where, government has decided that reducing climate change emissions cannot be left to the market.
^Rocker, Simon. "Miliband warms the hearts of the Labour Friends [of Israel]". The Jewish Chronicle. London. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014. [Ed Miliband] was applauded for his anti-boycott commitment – "we will resolutely oppose the isolation of Israel," he said – and for his assertion that no one in his party should question Israel's right to exist.
^Cockerell, Michael (26 August 2015) [first shown 6 May]. "Who is Ed Miliband?". BBC Newsnight (official YouTube channel). Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^Steven Swinford (12 April 2014). "Ed Miliband's hope to be 'Britain's first Jewish PM'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018. I have a particular faith, I describe myself as a Jewish atheist. I'm Jewish by birth origin and it's part of who I am. I don't believe in God, but I think faith is a really important thing for a lot of people. It provides nourishment, a faith about how you [can] change the world.
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