David Miliband: Attack on my dad was ‘hateful’
David Miliband has expressed hurt over the Daily Mail article which claimed his father "hated Britain".
Speaking as the row over the article started to die down, the International Rescue Committee president said his Marxist academic father was a loving presence in his childhood.
"It's hateful when you have your father targeted in that way, traduced in that way," he said.
"There is no question about that. But I also have a very strong feeling that the good sense of the British people is to sort out that kind of tarring of someone from the truth.
"And, frankly, I never thought I'd see so many pictures of my dad in his naval uniform staring out from TV shows and from newspapers as well.
"The important thing for me is that he was an ¬incredibly loving dad who meant a huge amount to me and obviously to Ed and to my mum as well. I hope that the right lessons are learned."
It is the first comment from the former foreign secretary since he took to Twitter when the row broke and wrote: "My dad loved Britain".
Ed Miliband was widely credited with winning a rare battle with the Daily Mail after he wrote a response to the tabloid in its own pages following the publication of the article.
But a decision to reiterate the original accusations and publish a new leader attacking the academic meant the row blazed for several days.
Mail editor Paul Dacre has still not given a public statement on the row, despite the presence of a Channel 4 news crew outside his home.
