Labour must change, says Miliband - Belfast Telegraph

Monday, 13 June 2011

Ed Miliband will admit that too many people view Labour as the party of benefits cheats and bankers as he seeks to reassert his authority.

After a weekend dominated by questions over his leadership and an ongoing feud with brother David, Mr Miliband will insist the party "must change" fundamentally.

He will pledge to champion "responsibility" among the richest and poorest, suggesting that people with jobs could be fast-tracked on council housing lists, and major companies made to put rank-and-file employees on remuneration committees.

The keynote speech comes after David Miliband was forced to deny claims that he still coveted Labour's top job and had been plotting against his younger sibling.

"I have moved on from the leadership election and so should everyone else," Mr Miliband said in a statement. "Ed won, I stand fully behind him and so should everyone else."

He added: "We all have our part to play in supporting Ed and the frontbench team to ensure we expose this government for its reckless policies that are damaging the country. The rest is soap opera of which I want no part and the public have no interest."

Labour health spokeswoman Diane Abbott blamed the elder brother's supporters for destabilising the party. She said: "This is just malice from people who can't believe David lost. You have got a small group and they just cannot believe he lost and now are just endlessly briefing about Ed - you know, 'he won't last till next week', 'he won't last till next May'."

The latest wave of speculation was sparked by an unauthorised biography by Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre alleging that the fallout from last year's contest was far worse than either brother has admitted publicly. David is said to have effectively accused his younger sibling of lying by claiming to have told him face-to-face that he was standing for the top job.

In his speech in London, Mr Miliband will attempt to draw a line under the past by criticising elements of his predecessor Gordon Brown's approach.

He is expected to say: "My party must change. When we were in government, the CBI, the FSA and the Governor of the Bank of England sounded more willing to speak out on top pay than us. We were intensely relaxed about what happened at the top. No more. We will be a party that supports the real boardroom accountability that rewards wealth creation not failure."