Miliband brothers ‘healing relationship’

David Miliband has said his relationship with brother Ed is “healing” in the wake of their bitter battle for the Labour leadership.

The former foreign secretary admitted that he would “never erase” the memory of his defeat in the 2010 contest.

But he insisted there was no point “looking in the rear view mirror”, and leaving British politics would end the “soap opera” – although he did not completely rule out a comeback.

Interviewed on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, the ex-MP said he was “excited” to be moving to New York to head up the International Rescue Committee charity.

“The truth is I did not think I would be in this position,” he said. “But I am now, I’m excited, I am engaged. Of course I am sad to go, but I am excited by the challenge ahead.”

Mr Miliband added: “The truth is that these things, you can never erase them from memory or history…

“But Ed and I are brothers for life. That is something that you value and that you nurture whatever the difficulty of the circumstances.”

Asked if his relationship with Ed was “healing”, Mr Miliband replied: “Of course.”

Comparing the brothers to Wimbledon tennis finalists Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, he went on: “The important thing though is that you’ve got to never lead our lives by looking in the rear view mirror…

“You can’t afford to end up eating yourself up with that kind of struggle.

“You got to try and say, there are the Murrays of this world who win and there are the Djokovics who come second. You’ve got to be gracious when you don’t win.”

Mr Miliband also rejected the idea that Britain was entering a period where the only governments would be coalitions.

“I actually think the conventional assumption that we are bound to get a coalition is wrong,” he said.

“I actually think that in the end the British people will take a view and I think that is a great prize for Labour, the danger is that could be a great prize for the Tories as well.

“So I think, there is a bit too much mathematics going on in the way people are looking at the polls…

“Remember the polls are meaningless at this stage because they start with the question: ‘How would you vote if there was an election tomorrow?’

“There isn’t an election tomorrow. People will come to a judgement about the future of the country in two years time, and I would say it is all to play for, it is open.

“I don’t think anyone on either side should be banking on the fact that it is bound to be a coalition, I don’t see it that way.”