Edward Miliband

Ed Miliband entered parliament as the member for Doncaster North in 2005 and became Tony Blair’s minister for the third sector one year later. By 2007, he was minister for the cabinet office and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He became secretary of state for energy and climate change in 2008. After the 2010 general election, Miliband retained his shadow energy secretary role for a few months before running for leader of the Labour party. Defeating his brother David in a surprise victory, made Miliband – at 40 – the youngest Labour leader in history. As leader of the opposition, Miliband said he would take on the “vested interests” of the privatised utility companies. He backed military intervention in Libya in 2011, but by 2013 led the successful opposition to David Cameron’s bid to take military action against Syria. He campaigned in favour of a price freeze on gas and electricity prices, 200,000 new council houses a year and reducing the voting age to 16. He also pledged to take steps towards renationalising the railways. Miliband notably talked tough on unfettered immigration, particularly after the success of UKIP in the 2014 European elections. Miliband resigned as leader following the Labour defeat in the 2015 general election. Since then, he has built on his “Milifandom”, co-presenting the popular Reasons to be Cheerful podcast with Geoff Lloyd, among other projects. He was appointed shadow secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy by Kier Starmer in April 2020.