THE appalling decision of Sunderland AFC to appoint the self-declared fascist and Mussolini admirer Paolo Di Canio as head coach left David Miliband with no alternative but to resign as Vice Chairman of the club. This decision was honourable and inevitable. In this it contrasts sharply with his decision to quit as a Member of Parliament, which was certainly not inevitable and probably not honourable.
He has exposed himself as part of the new, all too common breed who see becoming an MP as a finishing school for joining the fraternity of millionaires.
To put it bluntly David is leaving British politics because he cannot stomach his younger brother Ed occupying the position he covets as Leader of the Labour Party.
The miners of Monkwearmouth Lodge, whose proud banner followed David Miliband out of Sunderland’s stadium, would have found this a pathetic reason to abandon the people of South Shields, his constituency, and the Labour movement. They knew a thing or two about struggle and adversity.
Politics, like boxing, is a rough tough business. The objective is to knock your opponent out of the electoral race. The courage to enter the political arena is very similar to that required to enter the boxing ring. Physically you may not be at risk but your personality, intellect and philosophy certainly are. Damage here can be a lot more painful than a few bruises.
Gordon Brown’s disastrous leadership gave David Miliband his first opportunity to show his mettle; three times he choked failing to climb into the ring with this fragile bully. After the General Election with Brown gone he finally summoned up the courage to face his younger brother for the leadership of the Labour Party.
Having entered the ring he then lacked the will to win. His fatal flaw was to be too aloof and arrogant to do the necessary preparatory work and talk to common or garden MPs who might have given him victory, he only needed an extra half dozen votes to win.
David Miliband
Lacking bravery is not David Miliband’s only defect as a potential leader, his ministerial career had shown some serious misjudgements. At Education he over-claimed for improvement in exam results, at Environment he damaged the security of our energy supply and worst of all as Foreign Secretary he was embroiled in the extraordinary renditions scandal.
A career then that is a study in failure.
However it is worth remembering that if Winston Churchill had died in 1939 he would, if remembered at all, be remembered for his mistakes and not as one of our greatest Prime Ministers. (I know, I know David Miliband is not to be mistaken for Churchill).
In spite of David Miliband’s mistakes I voted for him to lead the Labour Party in 2010 because he seemed to be the only contender who was not in denial about the failures of the Brown administration. Indeed some of his mistakes were because he remained part of that administration during its last woeful months. He genuinely seemed to be attempting to find an intellectual, rigorous and honest path to better policies and a more credible position with the electorate. Unlike the others he didn’t dissimulate when challenged about his position on Iraq for instance.
To summarise David Miliband’s political career in the House of Commons was less than glittering but his deep intelligence and intellectual honesty gave reason for optimism that he might benefit from his experience and make a major contribution to the political life of this country over the next ten years. Instead he has exposed himself as part of the new, all too common breed who see becoming an MP as a finishing school for joining the fraternity of millionaires.
This makes me very angry because it clashes fundamentally with my view of the commitment required for politicians of the Left. For while there is poverty, disadvantage and ignorance then there is an abundance of work for those of us privileged to represent people as councillors, MPs or Ministers of the Crown.
David Miliband should not be put into that category of ‘great leaders the Labour Party never had’. Great leaders respect the communities they represent, they don’t desert the people of South Shields because family life is tough.
How hollow David Miliband’s campaign to restore trust in politics now sounds.
Paolo Di CanioThe Labour Party must learn the lesson that fast tracking clever political advisers at the expense of local people with real experience of the world is one of the reasons for the alienation of the electorate. I trust South Shields Labour Party will be allowed to select a person from the North East who has experience of campaigning for and representing disadvantaged groups.
Finally David Miliband was right not to work with Paolo Di Canio but can he explain why Paolo Di Canio is worse than Henry Kissinger?
Henry Kissinger is on the board of International Rescue the charity from which David Miliband will draw his $400,000 a year salary. Henry Kissinger ,you may remember was part of an administration responsible for carpet bombing large parts of South East Asia and killing tens of thousands of people. Something a little more serious than anything an attention-seeking footballer has done.
Graham Stringer
Graham Stringer is a regular columnist for Manchester Confidential. He is the Labour Member of Parliament for Blackley and Broughton with a majority of 12,303. He was elected to Parliament in 1997 for the now abolished constituency of Manchester Blackley. Prior to this he was the Leader of Manchester City Council from 1984-1996. He is one of the few MPs to have science experience, as a professional analytical chemist. He is a member of The Science and Technology Committee at Westminster.
