Shocking news. Ed Miliband is acting tough. And standing up for Britain.
Ed Miliband is finally battling for Britain. And against an actual enemy (Image: Getty)
Maybe being foreign secretary suits him after all. It gives him the chance to do something most of the country actually supports. Let’s not get too excited. His record isn’t exactly reassuring. When he was Labour leader, Ed Miliband made one of the biggest foreign policy blunders of recent times. In 2013, murderous Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad slaughtered at least 1,400 of his own civilians, including women and children, with sarin nerve gas. Families hiding in basements suffered slow, horrific deaths.
Chemical weapons had been outlawed for decades. This crossed a red line set by then US president Barack Obama. Tory PM David Cameron backed joint action with the US and France against Syria’s store of chemical weapons. Parliament voted, and disgracefully, Miliband blocked it. Worse, he did it in a sneaky way, demanding “compelling evidence” that al-Assad was responsible. British intelligence had already supplied it.
Incredibly, enough Conservative and Lib Dem MPs joined him for the motion to fail. And President Obama called off the strikes. Miliband defended his actions by calling the raids an “ill-thought out” intervention that would make life worse for Syrians. Their lives did get worse. Much worse, as al-Assad continued the slaughter. Even Ed’s brother David Miliband said the vote had contributed to the chaos.
Ed Miliband dodges questions about previous Trump comments
Five years later, in 2018, US president Donald Trump decided he’d seen enough. With Miliband no longer calling the shots, the US, UK and France destroyed Syrian chemical weapons facilities with air and missile strikes. Imagine having that on your conscience? I couldn’t live with myself. Yet Miliband still says he has no regrets. And today he’s foreign secretary. Heaven knows what the Americans think of that. Although you can probably guess.
After Donald Trump‘s first election victory in 2016, Miliband publicly branded him “a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper”. A year later he tweeted that Trump had “lowered the bar for idiocy”. If only he’d been as tough on al-Assad.
I can’t imagine Trump thinks too highly of Ed either, but he’s diplomatically kept quiet. Yet White House officials suggest there’s “genuine anger” about PM Andy Burnham’s decision to promote him.
Miliband just met US secretary of state Marco Rubio and both sides are doing their bit to pretend all is well. And suddenly, Miliband has come out with all guns blazing – against an actual enemy of our country.
When he was energy secretary, I joked that his net zero crusade was inflicting so much damage on Britain’s industrial base that he might as well have been a covert enemy agent. Today, he’s directing his firepower where it belongs, announcing tougher sanctions against Russia.
Labour ministers want to squeeze the individuals and businesses helping to fund Vladimir Putin‘s war in Ukraine while cracking down on Russia’s shadow fleet. That comes as Russia continues testing Britain’s defences through cyber activity, hostile intelligence operations and in the latest provocation, a warship firing shells off the Plymouth coast.
Even Miliband can’t ignore that. And this time he isn’t waiting for “compelling evidence” before acting. I’m not sure how that will go down on the backbenches. It can’t be long before Diane Abbott accuses him of being a warmonger.
Personally, I can get behind this version of Ed Miliband. The one who stands up for Britain’s interests instead of undermining them. If only he’d done it 13 years ago. In that alternate reality, he might even have become PM. Let’s hope this muscular new Miliband can keep punching the right targets. Sadly, I suspect it won’t last.