David Miliband

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God Save the Queen?
Miliband Senior in happier days, i.e. when Labour were actually in power.

David Miliband is a British politician. Miliband works for the Labour Party, and was the Member of Parliament for South Shields from 2001 to 2013. He held several ministerial positions between 2007 and 2010, including Foreign Secretary (Miliband was the youngest person to ever hold the office, which he was appointed to at the age of 41). With Labour's loss in the 2010 General Election, he continued as shadow Foreign Secretary from May until September, at which point he effectively retired from cabinet positions for reasons outlined below.

[edit] Leadership

In mid-2010, David Miliband was the least unlikely candidate for the position of leader of the Labour Opposition in the UK; the only other serious contender was his brother Ed. In a bizarre shock result, he lost out to Ed, who ascended to the Labour opposition leadership. To avoid constant comparisons between him and his brother, and to avoid any media generated manufactroversies over sibling rivalry, David stepped down from senior government positions and effectively disappeared from the media. Several years later, this decision still has people scratching their heads and wondering "why Ed? No, really, why Ed?"

[edit] Factoids

He is reputedly devastatingly intelligent, but unfortunately looks like a chimp when he grins. And his symbol is a banana, ever since he was photographed looking something or other holding one.[1][2]

Since Labour is electable,[3] he could have become the first openly atheist leader of the UK - an act that would undoubtedly have sent the American Religious Right into a tizzy over the "special relationship." But Ed's also an atheist. As is Nick Clegg, who became deputy Prime Minister in the 2010 election. Mwa ha ha!

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Miliband rallies party without disloyalty (Paul Waugh, Nicholas Cecil and Jack Lefley, Evening Standard, 2008-09-22)
  2. He who wields the banana can wear the crown
  3. UK Polling Report.co.uk
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