London: Ed Miliband, the former climate change secretary, has declared his intention to run for the Labour leadership against his older brother, David.
The younger Miliband, aged 40, formally announced his bid yesterday during a speech to the party faithful in which he set out his vision for the future of Labour. He told the Fabian Society conference in central London: "I have talked to my family and friends and I have decided to stand to be leader of the Labour party."
Miliband called for a "fraternal" contest for all candidates who put their names forward. His brother, the former foreign secretary, informally launched his leadership bid last Tuesday.
Ed Miliband said: "My message to the British people is, we will learn from our mistakes, we will be part of your values again, we will be part of your community again and we will work with you to build the kind of country we want to see.
"And my message to our party is this: we have to use this leadership campaign as a first step on the road back to power because that is where we should be as a political party. It involves facing up to uncomfortable truths. "I think it should be a fraternal contest, and not just in terms of myself and David but all the candidates at this election." Ed Miliband received the support of 62 young party activists in a letter to the Guardian.
Limited time
In what they describe as the "first week in our adult lives that the Labour party has been a party of opposition", the group say they think electing him will "make sure that weeks like this are numbered". They call him the only person who can really undertake a "new way of doing politics" and will not lapse into "internal battles".
An activist at a meeting of his Doncaster North constituency Labour party sent a message via Twitter last night to say that he had told it that he would be joining the leadership race.
The website LabourList also reported that he had told the constituency party: "I am telling you first that I am standing for the leadership. I've thought long and hard about it.
"My brother and I agree that the party needs the widest possible choice. The party has lost touch with our voters and we have lost our radical edge. We must reconnect and regain our sense of idealism."
Ed Balls, Jon Cruddas and Andy Burnham are also still pondering bids. But Ed Miliband's declaration suggests the two brothers do not share the view of those who have called on the party to wait a period before embarking on the process of choosing their next leader.
Various contests
On Tuesday, Labour's ruling national executive committee (NEC) will meet for the first time since the party left government and is expected to hear various cases for immediate contests culminating in July or stretching to September's annual Labour party conference, or a stalling of the race.
The leftwing pressure group Compass, which Cruddas is close to, has called on the NEC to rein in expectations of an immediate contest, arguing: "Instead of engaging in a quick-fire beauty contest the Labour NEC should release a short post-election statement for comment on Labour's website and initiate a process of involving all party stakeholders to both debate and restate Labour's aims, values and generate new ideas."
Labour sources say David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, is expected to run a campaign "drawing on the Blair playbook".
