Labour must change to win: UK's Miliband
Britain's Foreign Secretary set of a frenzy of speculation on Wednesday with a newspaper article saying the Labour Party had to change immediately to avoid defeat in the next election.
By Agencies |
LONDON: Britain's Foreign Secretary set of a frenzy of speculation on Wednesday with a newspaper article saying the Labour Party had to change immediately to avoid defeat in the next election.
It wasn't what David Miliband said that excited the most comment, but what he didn't say. Not once in his 900-word prescription for the party's future did he mention his current boss beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Miliband a protege of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and a person often seen as a possible future prime minister denied under questioning Wednesday that he was trying to oust Brown as party leader. His article, he told reporters, was an attack on the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron not Brown.
But he repeatedly declined to rule out running against Brown as leader.
Radio talk shows and pundits buzzed with close analyses of Miliband's comments and omissions.
``Labour won three elections by offering real change ... , `` Miliband wrote in the Guardian newspaper. ``We must do so again.''
Recent defeats in three special elections and dismal opinion poll ratings showed the party needed radical changes, he wrote.
Some questioned whether Miliband was the heir or assassin. Labour's woes far behind in opinion polls and seemingly unable to win an election anywhere are reminiscent of the plight of the last Conservative government, more than a decade ago. That government, led by John Major, was swept away in a landslide in 1997 by Labour's Blair, whose casual dress, youthful looks and affable demeanor many see replicated by Miliband.
Though he did not mention Brown by name in his essay, Miliband offered a list of policy failings on topics ranging from crime to Iraq and the economy. Brown routinely cites all three topics as areas of government progress.
Like most other restive Labour lawmakers, Miliband has not called on Brown to quit. The party lacks the funds for a speedy leadership contest and is reluctant to impose a second unelected leader on the country.
Brown was unopposed when he was elected Labour Party leader in June 2007, automatically inheriting, because of the party's majority in Parliament, the prime ministerial term won by Blair in 2005.
``Can Gordon lead us into the next election and win? Yes, I'm certain about that,'' Miliband insisted to reporters Wednesday.
It wasn't what David Miliband said that excited the most comment, but what he didn't say. Not once in his 900-word prescription for the party's future did he mention his current boss beleaguered Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Miliband a protege of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and a person often seen as a possible future prime minister denied under questioning Wednesday that he was trying to oust Brown as party leader. His article, he told reporters, was an attack on the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron not Brown.
But he repeatedly declined to rule out running against Brown as leader.
Radio talk shows and pundits buzzed with close analyses of Miliband's comments and omissions.
``Labour won three elections by offering real change ... , `` Miliband wrote in the Guardian newspaper. ``We must do so again.''
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Recent defeats in three special elections and dismal opinion poll ratings showed the party needed radical changes, he wrote.
Some questioned whether Miliband was the heir or assassin. Labour's woes far behind in opinion polls and seemingly unable to win an election anywhere are reminiscent of the plight of the last Conservative government, more than a decade ago. That government, led by John Major, was swept away in a landslide in 1997 by Labour's Blair, whose casual dress, youthful looks and affable demeanor many see replicated by Miliband.
Though he did not mention Brown by name in his essay, Miliband offered a list of policy failings on topics ranging from crime to Iraq and the economy. Brown routinely cites all three topics as areas of government progress.
Like most other restive Labour lawmakers, Miliband has not called on Brown to quit. The party lacks the funds for a speedy leadership contest and is reluctant to impose a second unelected leader on the country.
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Brown was unopposed when he was elected Labour Party leader in June 2007, automatically inheriting, because of the party's majority in Parliament, the prime ministerial term won by Blair in 2005.
``Can Gordon lead us into the next election and win? Yes, I'm certain about that,'' Miliband insisted to reporters Wednesday.
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He was less enthusiastic about the party's prospects is his article. ``The odds are against us, no question,'' he wrote.
Miliband, who has adopted two children from the US with his American wife, Louise Shackelton, was pushed to run against Brown for the party leadership last year.
Instead, he backed Brown and was rewarded with the post of foreign secretary. At 43, he is one of the youngest people to the hold the job.
A voracious blogger who is often seen listening to his iPod, Miliband was nicknamed ``Brains'' by Blair for his command of policy.
Brown's popularity has been laid waste by a slowing economy and a raft of policy mishaps. Once-loyal blue-collar supporters are dismayed at tax changes that hurt poor families.
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The dour Scot has even seen his cherished economic record questioned, with some people wondering if his 10-year tenure as Treasury chief under Blair prepared Britain properly for the current financial slump. Labour has lost three special elections this year, including parliamentary votes in party strongholds in Glasgow and the northern England city of Crewe seats the Labour Party had held for decades.
Many rank-and-file Labour lawmakers expect to lose their seats in the next election, which must be called by mid-2010. Two have called on Brown to step down.
Brown's woes could come to a head in September, when legislators and party supporters gather for the party's annual conference.
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Former Cabinet minister and party king-maker Peter Mandelson, now EU trade commissioner, stoked speculation about a coup, saying several senior Labour figures would make good leaders. And former Europe minister Denis MacShane praised Miliband's attempt to rally the party. Labour lawmakers ``should follow Miliband's leadership,'' MacShane added.
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Yet Brown's Labour Party has little history of savaging its leader unlike the Conservative Party, which ousted Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1990 after she had spent 11 years in office. And Rhodri Morgan, a senior Labour official and head of the Welsh parliament, said Miliband would be foolish to challenge Brown. ``Anybody who does that is committing suicide,'' he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
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