UKAnalysis

David Miliband comes over all coy over rumours he could end up as a Labour government’s ambassador in Washington

Former UK foreign secretary, now based in New York, made series of high-profile appearances at events in London last week, including at the Irish Embassy in Belgravia

David Miliband could be a contender to be the UK's ambassador in Washington if an incoming Labour government moved to reverse any appointment by the Tories. Photograph: John Lamparski/Getty Images

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Mark Paul in London
Mon May 13 2024 - 06:00

Last week, as the evening sun streamed in through the windows of the grand reception room upstairs in the Irish Embassy in London, David Miliband, Britain’s former foreign secretary, tried to fend off questions about his future from a determined gaggle of UK reporters.

Miliband, who quit frontline politics in 2010 after losing the Labour leadership to his brother Ed Miliband, had just given Trinity College’s annual Henry Grattan lecture, in which he called for the United Kingdom to “reboot” its foreign policy, beginning with closer relations with the European Union.

Would the man who was once touted as one of the most talented politicians in the party accept a role in a future Labour government, asked the BBC. Would he come back from exile in New York, where he has run the International Rescue Committee charity for the last 10 years, to run for the British parliament again asked the Guardian.

With a sigh, Miliband tried to brush them away. “You know, I haven’t lost all of my political antennae,” he said. “I’m just not going to go there in terms of my future. That’s for other people to discuss if they want. I am the wrong guy to ask.”

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The potential future role with which Miliband is most often linked by senior Labour figures these days is not in Westminster but in Washington. There is a suggestion among people close to the upper echelons of the party that he may end up as the UK’s ambassador to the United States.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Tory government has already indicated that its next UK ambassador in Washington will be Tim Barrow, a career diplomat who was one of the nation’s top Brexit negotiators. It is expected that he will be appointed to take over from outgoing ambassador Karen Pierce towards the end of this year following the next US presidential election.

Yet Labour, which seems on course to win the next UK general election, is dropping big hints that it might revisit any appointment to the Washington role made by Sunak. Labour leader Keir Starmer is believed to want his own man or woman in the job at such a critical time in UK-US relations and with geopolitics in such flux.

Some weekend reports suggested that Catherine Ashton, the UK’s former vice-president of the European Commission, or Peter Mandelson, the former Northern Ireland Secretary, are being considered for the Washington post ahead of Miliband. But the rumours about him remain.

If Miliband didn’t want to face questions about his future on his trip to London last week, he wasn’t keeping his head down to avoid them. His visit seemed deliberately high profile. “He’s clearly putting himself about the place for good reason,” mused one seasoned observer.

On the evening after his Irish Embassy speech, Miliband made yet another public appearance, this time to give a talk at Nesta, a charity and foundation focused on climate change, child poverty and health issues. Twice more he was asked about his future. Twice more he refused to answer.

The Irish Times put it to Milband directly if he knew of the conversations happening inside Labour about him as a potential US ambassador and whether the job held any interest for him. He just smiled and waved the question away.

Miliband suggested that while many polls suggest former US president Donald Trump has a good chance of ousting President Joe Biden in November’s election, he wasn’t so sure that Trump would win.

“I think that bears greater scrutiny,” he said, adding that people in the UK and Europe who were wondering about a return to power by Trump could only “wait and cross your fingers”.

David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, who seems on course to take on the actual role in government by the end of the year, has been conspicuous over recent months in his efforts to build contacts with Trump-supporting Republicans, lest he soon has to meet them in an official capacity. Miliband said he believes Lammy is “right to talk to everyone”, as the likely next UK government hedges its bets over the outcome of the US presidential election.

Sunak’s government and also Labour have promised to boost UK defence spending to record levels to buttress the nation’s security in a world of growing geopolitical uncertainty, as wars rage in Ukraine and the Middle East. Miliband, however, suggested that the UK should focus just as much on spending more on its diplomatic and intelligence services, as on buying new kit for its army.

“You could double spending on intelligence and diplomacy for the same cost as a 10 per cent increase in the defence budget,” he said, suggesting that this might bear greater fruit for Britain in a “multi-aligned” world where countries maintain multiple alliances.

He said it was “absurd” that the UK had strategic partnerships with countries such as Japan, Canada and Australia, but not with its closest neighbours in the European Union.

“It should be obvious that this makes no sense,” he said. “And it should be equally obvious that it needs to be put right.”

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