Not New Labour. But Next Labour. This is the strategy put forward by contender for the post as the next Labour leader after Gordon Brown - The Next Labour Man - 44 year-old David Miliband. He was appointed Secretary of State by Gordon Brown. Miliband has no intention of walking in Tony Blair's footsteps, although he grew up politically as his protege. Probably a sound strategy, if we are to believe the advice put forward by Clint Eastwood among others: You'll never be a front runner if you walk in somebody else's footsteps.According to The Observer (The Guardian's weekend edition), David Miliband sees the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition as a natural result of political stagnation (although in PN words). People simply wanted change on the British political scene. So he's in the running to become the next Labour leader with time for preparation and elaboration of this Next Labour strategy. He will be running against his younger brother, Ed Miliband, who was the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change under Gordon Brown. And against Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families under Brown, among others.
Still, David Miliband seems to be the most profiled of the candidates for the leader post in Labour. Not a 'people embracer' like Tony Blair, but probably with a more statesman-like appearance than several of his contesters. He doesn't see it as a problem that he will be up against his own brother, Ed Miliband - rather he welcomes the challenge. He would also respect and enjoy working under his leadership. David Miliband holds degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford and in Political Science from MIT. Ed Miliband also holds a bachelor degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford, and a M.Sc. degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.
For a little fun, and very British, join the betting at smarkets.com in the link below. In writing this segment, David Miliband stod at around 57-64 percent odds of winning the race, followed by his brother Ed at around 31-34 percent odds of winning. The gain would be small if you bet on either Miliband, with only a 17£ win on 10£ invested, compared to betting on Jack Straw (former Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Brown) or Peter Mandelson (former First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Business, and one of the architects behind Blair's New Labour). Bettings on both these contesters will return 1.000£ on your 10£ bet. Although timesonline put the money on Mandelson, describing him as someone who gets better, the worse things get - and going from zero to hero, in an article from August 2009.
For further information, please see (photo googled and found at various news sites):