Door is open for David's return
By Tony Grew - 29th September 2010
David Miliband is welcome to return to the frontbench, his brother has said.
Ed Miliband said his older sibling was "absolutely right" not to put himself forward for the shadow cabinet elections.
"My door is always open to him," he said.
The Labour leader made a statement a few minutes ago, and repeatedly paid tribute to David, describing him as "thoughful" for wanting to spend more time with his family and "gracious" for thinking of the future of the party.
In an interview with the BBC, David said:
"Well I'm certainly always going to be there for him for the private
discussions that brothers should be able to have whether or not they're
leaders of the party or not.
"I think, though, Ed needs a clean field to make sure that he's able to lead the party forward as he sees fit without anyone saying that there are distractions because I'm there.
"After all I've been in government or around the top of politics for 16
years now and I think there's an opportunity for me to recharge my own
batteries, to get stuck back into the big issues that need to be thought
through for Labour to be able to help become the alternative government,
as well as the fighting opposition that I think is so important.
"I will be serving but I'm not dead remember.
"I am there for the Labour Party.
"I will be a proud member of Parliament for South Shields. I'm determined to carry on representing my constituents to the best of my ability.
"I'm absolutely determined to engage in those big issues, to understand better those big issues with the thinking, the rethinking that's going to be necessary."
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.