To the undoubted relief of Labour, Ed Miliband got his meeting with Barack Obama (and a bit more than a “brush-by”). The pair talked at the White House for 25 minutes after Obama joined Miliband’s discussion with National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Douglas Alexander, Labour strategist Stewart Wood and Miliband’s chief of staff Tim Livesey were also present.
For all the inevitable cynicism around the meeting, a photo with the US president ten months before a general election will do the Labour leader no harm, and likely some good. Indeed, as he told British foreign correspondents before the meeting: “I am going because I want to be prime minister of Britain in less than ten months and because it is incredibly important – and it is what I think the British people would want – to have a prime minister who works closely with the United States.”
Here’s the Labour readout of the meeting:
Ed Miliband today met President Barack Obama for talks in the White House.
The Leader of the Opposition and the President discussed a range of issues, including the situation in Ukraine, Gaza, and the future of the European Union.
The pair also discussed the economy, climate change & the approaching referendum in Scotland.
The meeting lasted around 25 minutes.
Give a gift subscription to the New Statesman this Christmas from just £49Mr. Miliband also met the President’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice and held talks with senior politicians in Washington.
And here’s the White House’s:
President Obama joined National Security Advisor Rice’s meeting today with Mr. Ed Miliband, leader of the United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party. Mr Miliband was meeting with Ambassador Rice to discuss issues of shared concern, including the situations in Ukraine, Israel/Gaza, and Iraq. The President and Mr. Miliband affirmed the strong ties that bind the United States and the United Kingdom. The President and Mr. Miliband met previously during the President’s visit to London in May 2011.
Earlier in the day, Miliband gave a seminar at the Centre for American Progress (Obama’s favourite think-tank) attended by senior US figures, including Maryland governor Martin O’Malley and Jason Furman, one of the US president’s senior economic advisers. In his opening remarks on the MH17 shooting, Miliband said:
“This is the moment for a strong, determined and outward-looking EU to step up to its responsibilities.
“Europe and America must stand together as they have at crucial moments in the past.
“As President Obama made clear in his state visit to the UK in 2011, Europe is a cornerstone of US global engagement. Together we are the most potent catalyst for global action that there is in the world today.
“In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy of flight MH17 we must again be that catalyst for global solidarity and decisive action.
“And to achieve those ends this we need Britain at the heart of a reformed and resolute EU.
“Nothing could illustrate more starkly than the need for European and American partnership than the cloud cast globally from the events in the skies in Ukraine.
“Britain in Europe working in partnership with America is not only in all our interests, it is the best way to promote stability and prosperity across the globe.”
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