David Miliband: New Labour is over
By politics.co.uk staff
New Labour is finished, David Miliband has said.
In a clear bid to woo the left of the Labour party in his pitch for the leadership, the former foreign secretary said the phrase had served its purpose and needed to be replaced.
“New Labour isn’t new any more,” he wrote in the Observer.
“What I’m interested in is next Labour. And the route to next Labour is to be listening. Labour listening, talking, engaging, discussing – debating Labour.”
The comments reflect how damaging Mr Miliband’s Blairite image could be to his leadership ambitions, as he enters into the contest against his brother, Ed.
“Blairites, Brownites, that’s past,” David Miliband said.
He also praised Jon Cruddas, a darling of the left of the party, possibly in an attempt to convince him to run on a ‘dream ticket’ with him rather than conduct his own campaign.
“He has taught me a lot,” he said. “He has been talking about housing for a long time. He has been talking about community organising for a long time.”
David Miliband will formally launch his campaign in his South Shields constituency tomorrow.
He made no attempt to water down his assessment of Labour’s defeat.
“The polls had us third for a significant part of the election campaign. And you know that that’s a near-death experience,” he said.
“People felt we were late to the game on political reform, antisocial behaviour. We lost focus on that. Immigration, late to the game with the Australian points system. Social care, late to the game.”
The comments resemble those of his brother yesterday, in which he delivered an honest assessment of Labour’s failures in power to the Fabian Society.
