As an outspoken opponent of the catastrophic and criminal invasion of Iraq, yet a supporter of Ed Miliband’s candidacy for the Labour leadership, I am delighted to offer this snippet from my column in the latest issue of the New Statesman, which hits the news-stands tomorrow:
. . . the younger Miliband’s honesty has also been called into question by his rivals — especially over the issue of the Iraq invasion, which the shadow energy secretary has described as a “profound mistake” and claimed to have opposed in private. But his brother, David, has stated: “Diane Abbott is the only candidate that can say she was against the war at the time.” Ed Balls, too, has said it is “ridiculous” for Ed Miliband to claim he was privately anti-war in 2003. “He says he didn’t support the war but I’m not sure I believe him,” says a well-connected Labour source, who has decided to back David over Ed.
However, a close friend and former colleague of Ed Miliband tells me that he has no doubt whatsoever that the shadow energy secretary opposed the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. “I know for a fact that he was against the war because it was he who persuaded me of the merits of the anti-war case,” says the friend. “I remember flying out to Cambridge [Massachusetts], where he was on a sabbatical lecturing at Harvard, and he argued very strongly that the UN weapons inspectors should be given more time to finish their work.”
I have learned that Miliband Jr rang Gordon Brown from the United States to persuade the then chancellor of the Exchequer to resist the drumbeat for war coming from inside No 10.
A former Downing Street aide says that Brown “took Ed’s phone call very seriously but, ultimately, other views prevailed”.
Content from our partners
Related
