Mary Ann Sieghart in The Times today says that David Miliband looks ever more likely to run against Gordon Brown for Labour’s leadership.
“When Sean Connery was asked for the umpteenth time whether he planned another outing as James Bond, his robust reply was “Never again”. The phrase was to haunt him so much that, when he finally changed his mind and made his own Bond film, he called it Never Say Never Again.
“It would be as good a maxim as any for David Miliband to adopt. The youthful Environment Secretary has insisted that he will not run against Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership. Yet the pressures on him to do so are gradually building and may eventually become near impossible for him to resist.
“No one wants to talk about this publicly, and some fear doing so even off the record. Supporters of Mr Miliband know that his best hope is to reveal no ambition for the leadership until the last moment, after Tony Blair resigns. For now, he should simply concentrate on doing a good job at Environment. Even journalistic speculation such as this is against their interests.
Milliband is 41, he’s only been an MP since 2001 and in the cabinet since 2005, will he wait or will he go for it? I think he’s going to wait.
