David Miliband, "wonderboy" of British politics, quits (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Sep 29, 2010, 18:26 GMT

London - David Miliband, the 'wonderboy' of New Labour and a rising star in British politics, has quit the political stage after a bruising defeat over the party leadership with his younger brother.

Just three days after Ed Miliband, 40, emerged as the last-minute winner in the tightest-possible race for the leadership of the main opposition party, David, 45, said his brother would function better without him around.

He wanted to give Ed the 'freedom and space' to push through his vision of where Labour - if and when re-elected - would take Britain.

The contest between the two brothers, sparked by Ed's bold decision to stand as a candidate, had fascinated supporters and critics alike for months, prompting Cain and Abel analogies.

Commentators called it the 'Miliband psychodrama.'

On Saturday, when the result of the leadership vote was announced at Labour's party conference in Manchester, David seemed clearly shocked, while Ed was reported as having asked: 'What have I done to David?'

But, in public at least, it had all looked so good. There were smiles and brotherly embraces in full view of the media as David put on a brave face, saying: 'This is Ed's day.'

It was, no doubt, a bitter pill for David, who was backed by the vast majority of former cabinet colleagues, most parliamentarians, and party members.

The more radical Ed, however, turned the tide in his favour in the very last minute - winning by a margin of just one per cent - by gaining the backing of the trade unions and other 'affiliated organizations.'

But David's face dropped, suddenly and visibly, on Tuesday, when Ed, in his first major address to the party faithful, rounded on previous Labour governments - and with it on his brother - for having got it 'wrong' by going to war with Iraq in 2003.

David, as a member of parliament at the time, voted for Tony Blair's controversial decision to join the US invasion in the spring of 2003. Ed had not yet been elected to parliament.

'Iraq was an issue that divided our party and our country ... I criticize nobody faced with making the toughest of decisions and I honour our troops who fought and died there,' began the younger Miliband.

'But I do believe that we were wrong. Wrong to take Britain to war and we need to be honest about that.'

No Labour leader had ever said that before - let alone apologized for the war. For David, who by the nature of his job supported and defended Britain's role in the conflict for years, it was the last straw.

As Ed made clear that he would be the leader of a 'new generation of Labour' - thus making a final break with the New Labour era - David's fury grew, reports said.

He left the party conference hall on the spot to return home to London with his wife, the American violinist Louise Shackleton.

It was she, according to reports, who told her husband straight away that, in the interest of keeping the family together, he could not serve under his younger brother.

But David's departure, according to commentators, could lead to a 'huge rupture' in the party.

The experience and charisma of someone who joined the highest echelons of Labour politics in 1997 - at the young age of 32 - and who proceeded in the inner circle of the governments of both Blair and Brown, would be sorely missed.

Ever since he joined the Blair government, David Miliband had been seen as the party's crown prince and potential future leader. Nicknamed 'brains,' he rose from being Blair's head of policy to the eventual post of foreign secretary.

Late last year, he ruled himself out as a possible candidate for the post of the European Union's (EU) foreign policy supremo.

A smooth operator, Miliband moved successfully from being an 'arch-Blairite' to filling a top cabinet post under Gordon Brown, surviving the Blair-Brown rivalry by making himself indispensable to the party.

He has frequently been at the heart of moves to oust the luckless Brown, but withdrew from the various plots without apparent damage.

But, as foreign secretary, Miliband also had his problems. Earlier this year, he suffered a humiliating defeat in the High Court, which threw out his attempts to block the disclosure of confidential intelligence material relating to torture allegations in the case of Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo detainee.