Miliband forced to cancel trip to India: Report

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has been forced to cancel his proposed four-day trip to India next month as Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to undertake a reshuffle of his Cabinet to show that he is still in charge.

According to a report in The Times daily, the Prime Minister, now on a holiday in Suffolk, UK, has ordered a series of meetings with his most senior ministers at the start of next month as he seeks to restore his authority.
News of Brown's preparations to relaunch his embattled administration emerged after Miliband cancelled the official trip to India between September 7 and 10.

Instead the Foreign Secretary took to the airwaves to defend himself after being denounced by the Prime Minister's allies as self-serving and disloyal for a newspaper article in which he set out his vision for Labour's future without making any mention of Brown.

Although Miliband leaves for a two-week holiday in Minorca tomorrow, the Prime Minister's allies are braced for further attacks by those seeking to advance the Foreign Secretary's cause while protecting him from accusations of plotting.