Miliband: Labour leadership question 'settled'
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband insisted today that the Labour leadership question was “settled” as ministers sought to draw a line under failed attempts to oust Gordon Brown.
The threat to the Prime Minister appeared to recede after he faced down a putative uprising at a crunch meeting of Labour MPs last night.
Mr Miliband, who is regarded as a likely successor to Mr Brown, said today he had never considered following James Purnell in quitting the cabinet last week and urged his Labour colleagues to concentrate on taking the fight to the Tories at the next general election.
Apparently dousing talk of his own potential candidature for the leadership, he described Home Secretary Alan Johnson as “the leading contender”.
“The Parliamentary Labour Party has reached a settled view about the leadership,” Mr Miliband said. “The Labour Party does not want a new leader, there is no vacancy, there is no challenger. The leading contender, Alan Johnson, is backing the Prime Minister to the hilt. So that is that.”
Despite catastrophic electoral results for Labour and a string of ministerial resignations, only a handful of backbench critics called for Mr Brown to quit last night.
At a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Mr Brown admitted to “weaknesses” and promised a fresh approach and new policies.
He also delivered a stark warning that the party risked returning to the wilderness if it succumbed to “disunity” and kicked him out.
Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s 'Today' programme: “I always believed that the right thing to do was to remain in the Cabinet.
“I was clear that the right thing to do was to make sure that all of my energies were dedicated to making sure there was a progressive, clear, strong Labour project at the next election.”
He said that, when news came through of James Purnell’s resignation on Thursday night, he had immediately assured Lord Mandelson that he would not follow his exit.
And he insisted that the “key” point was that Labour’s modernisation project from 1997 was only half complete.
“It’s half complete in respect of political reform, it’s half complete in respect of economic reform, it’s half complete in respect of social reform and, I believe, on the international agenda, it is half complete too.
“And what I want to work for, what the Prime Minister wants to work for, what the whole Cabinet will work for, is the completion of that project.”
But, asked about the task facing Labour in the next election, he added: “The odds are stacked against us when we are trying to win a fourth term.”
