From the Commons chamber:
David Miliband, the shadow foreign secretary and front-runner in the Labour leadership, is currently taking apart the Europe policy of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.
Earlier, William Hague, the new Foreign Secretary, tried to ridicule Miliband by saying that “the situation has changed” and that Miliband will have to “agree” with him over various cross-party issues.
But on Europe, Miliband did not hold back, pointing out that the Deputy Prime Minister himself, Nick Clegg, has called the Tories’ new EU allies “nutters”. He also quoted the Hague describing the Lib Dems as “fanatical federalists”.
Finally, Miliband said that while the Foreign Secretary was good at “jokes”, his new job would, “for the first time in a long time”, require him to have “judgement”.
Miliband’s contribution has just been described as a “leadership speech” by Ming Campbell. That is unfair, because Miliband has offered similar messages repeatedly in recent years.
But there is no doubt that he has just shown — with the force of his argument and his ability to take apart this rather awkwardly balanced coalition — why he is front-runner to lead Labour and take on the Cameron-led government.
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