Ed Miliband's promotion to Foreign Secretary has raised concerns about his suitability for the role, given his past comments about Donald Trump and his foreign policy stance while Labour leader.
Ed Miliband's promotion to Foreign Secretary has raised concerns about his suitability for the role, given his past comments about Donald Trump and his foreign policy stance while Labour leader.
In 2018, Mr Miliband branded the US President a 'racist' and 'misogynist' and claimed he had a 'peculiar relationship with Russia'. He also used an interview with GQ magazine to condemn Mr Trump's 'very scary authoritarian tendencies' and vow to join protests against him visiting Britain. Eight years on, Mr Miliband has now been appointed as the Government's lead figure in managing Britain's relations with Mr Trump's administration.
Worries about Mr Miliband's suitability as Foreign Secretary - a role once held by his brother David - also stem from his foreign policy stance while he was Labour leader. In 2013, Mr Miliband ordered his Labour MPs to vote against then-PM David Cameron's plan to take military action against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The failure by the House of Commons to support military action was later blamed for then-US President Barack Obama pulling his plans to punish the Assad regime. In 2024, in the wake of Assad fleeing to Russia after rebel forces ended decades of his brutal rule, Mr Miliband said he did not regret voting to block an attack on Syria.
He told the BBC: 'I believe after what happened in Iraq, where hundreds of British troops died and thousands were injured, we could not commit British military forces without a clear plan.
'As to the question about whether it would have led to the end of Assad, the truth is in 2017 and 2018 Donald Trump bombed Assad and it did not lead to the end of Assad. 'I welcome the fall of a brutal dictator… but those people who say if only we had taken military action he would have somehow fallen - I just frankly don't believe it.
' Mr Miliband has been promoted to the Foreign Office after serving as Energy Secretary in Keir Starmer's administration. But it is seen as a consolation prize for Mr Miliband after he was heavily tipped to be named as Chancellor by Mr Burnham. Last year, Mr Miliband was reported to have been among Cabinet ministers pushing Sir Keir to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
He has been attacked by the Tories for having 'kowtowed' to China amid his push for green energy while at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. In a speech earlier this year, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Mr Miliband of leaving Britain 'entirely reliant on China for our future energy supply'.
'The reality of Miliband's green future is Chinese-made solar panels, Chinese-made wind turbines and Chinese-made lithium batteries,' she added. It recently emerged that senior officials in Mr Trump's administration had privately warned that appointing Mr Miliband as Chancellor would be a 'mistake'. Top US officials were reported to have told senior Labour figures they were concerned about Mr Miliband's opposition to new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
Mr Trump himself has frequently criticised the UK Government in public for its stance on fossil fuels. Following his appointment to lead the Foreign Office on Monday, Mr Miliband said his new department will be 'at the forefront of issues which pose profound and substantial threats to justice and equality in Britain and across the world' under his stewardship.
'I will be a Foreign Secretary who fights for Britain's interests and our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law on the world stage,' he added. Mr Miliband promised to maintain close ties with both the EU and the US, as well as upholding Britain's commitments to Nato and the UN. But Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: 'In the two short years since Labour came to office, Ed Miliband is Labour's third Foreign Secretary.
'In this time, Britain's standing in the world has fallen, our allies have been let down, and Britain has been weak in the face of serious threats to our security. 'Like his two Labour predecessors, Miliband has kowtowed to China and fails to stand up for our interests in the Middle Eas
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