One of the small surprises of the Labour leadership contest to date has been Douglas Alexander’s decision to back David, not Ed Miliband. Alexander has known both brothers for a long time but is thought to be much closer to the younger Miliband, as my colleague James Macintyre described in a piece published in the New Statesman back in March.
[Ed] Miliband and Alexander first met 20 years ago in the kitchen of Ed’s elder brother, David. Ed was an undergraduate, his brother worked for Blair and Alexander worked for Brown.The bond between Alexander and the younger Miliband deepened on a holiday in Ireland in 2000, which they shared with James Purnell.
Since 2000, Miliband and Alexander have holidayed together in Scotland, France and the US.
In 1997, Alexander, then a practising lawyer in Scotland, took leave of absence to share the Treasury office in which Miliband was working as a special adviser; in 1999 they were both responsible for the Scottish Parliament election campaign that overturned the Scottish National Party’s poll lead.
Now, in a piece on Labour Uncut, Alexander, who is chair of David Miliband’s leadership campaign, explains why he’s backing the elder sibling:
I believe that David can win back the support of all sections of society. Speaking to five close friends, all defeated Labour MPs, over the last few weeks, each told me without hesitation that David was the man to lead us and give us the best chance of winning back their seats. On Newsnight in the days following the election we saw nine swing voters all pick him as the man to reconnect Labour with the British people.
It is time not to ditch the approach which brought us three election victories and set the agenda for our opponents, but to develop it and adapt it for the age we are now in.
No mention in the 800 words of the younger Miliband, but lots of language that will appeal to those who want the “project” to continue.
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