Ed Miliband has been appointed foreign secretary in Andy Burnham’s new cabinet, taking over from Yvette Cooper – a move that comes as Labour left allies publicly urged Burnham to name him chancellor instead.
Miliband, the MP for Doncaster North since 2005 and a former Labour leader, was touted as a potential chancellor after Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation. But Burnham gave him the Foreign Office, a role previously held by Miliband’s brother David under Gordon Brown.
“Ed Miliband becomes foreign secretary under new PM Andy Burnham, as Labour left allies called for a 'progressive chancellor'.”
Speaking outside Downing Street after his appointment, Miliband described the job as “the honour of my life”. He added: “My parents came here as Jewish refugees fleeing from the Nazis, and for them, Britain provided sanctuary and a beacon of hope in the fight against fascism.” At a time “when values of democracy, the rule of law and freedom are under threat as never before”, he said he would “carry that spirit, their spirit, into my work as foreign secretary”.
The appointment follows a period in which Miliband became a divisive figure. As energy secretary under Starmer, he championed net zero policies, earning him enemies including Unite the Union boss Sharon Graham, who was angered by what she saw as a failure to protect the declining oil and gas industry.
Before the cabinet was announced, the soft left campaign group Mainstream – backed by Burnham – issued a statement calling for a “progressive chancellor with vision, values and a record of delivering structural change”. While the statement did not name Miliband, insiders confirmed to the New Statesman that the group wanted him for the Treasury. The statement also urged a cabinet that “properly represents our party’s tradition as a broad church, not a boys’ club”.
Miliband now takes on a role his father, the Marxist sociologist Ralph Miliband, could scarcely have imagined for him – and at a moment when the values he invoked are, in his words, under threat as never before.