Allies have told The i Paper of their “astonishment” at the “unchecked” hostile briefing which they say has been directed against the former Labour leader – apparently more loved than ever among his party’s membership.
Friends of Miliband say that such a move would be an act of self-harm which would blow a hole in Starmer’s case for re-election and result in Labour haemorrhaging votes to the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party. And they are alarmed at the anonymous negative briefing they see coming from his own side.
The remark caused shock within Miliband’s circle, The i Paper has been told. An ally said: “That people brief like that – ‘we want him to fail’ – and he’s one of the mission ministers. There is a sense of incredulity about the scale and content of the anonymous briefing.”
Miliband’s popularity with Labour party members is clear. When the LabourList website published its first ever polling last week on party members’ favourite Cabinet ministers he finished right at the top of the league table.
They join the dots between recent announcements such as the slashing of foreign aid, Starmer’s bashing of quangos and cuts to the welfare budget (something which Miliband was reported to have spoken out against in Cabinet), and see an emerging strategy of Labour moving to the right to contain the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform.
Fears targeting net zero part of a wider agenda
Miliband has already had to stomach Labour’s decision, made last year while in opposition, to ditch the £28bn green investment plan that he had been such a big supporter of. Party insiders said then that keeping the plan was “not good politics”.
And they have accused him of misleading voters over his claims that an expansion of renewable energy would cut consumer bills by an average of £300 a year by the end of the decade.
Miliband is unquestionably committed to net zero and if Starmer did decide to turn against the policy, he would probably have to remove the former Labour leader from his post ion first.
Miliband’s decision to speak out against benefit cuts in Cabinet has left him open to the charge of being a troublemaker – although those close to him stress his loyalty and belief in party discipline, having had to deal with Labour infighting when he was party leader.
A Labour MP thought that it was a “real possibility” that net zero could be watered down, with the “massive headwind” to the UK economy from Donald Trump‘s “global trade war” providing the Government with a convenient excuse to dial back ambitions if Starmer wanted.
There were reports that GB Energy’s budget could be cut in the Spending Review – later denied by the Treasury – and a scaling back of the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate which requires carmakers to increase electric vehicle sales is also expected.
“The people who want to unpick net zero are not necessarily doing the bidding of the Prime Minister,” they said. “I think it is part of a bigger political strategy which is creating tensions all over the place.”
McSweeney seen as being behind anti Reform plan
“There are people who sometimes think they’re doing Morgan’s bidding and do it in a rather blunt and clumsy way, which is not necessarily him, or what he would like,” they said.
Long-stalled solar farms have been signed off, the moratorium on onshore wind turbines lifted, a clean power plan for decarbonising electricity generation published. Legislation to set up the publicly owned GB Energy is working its way through Parliament, and last week it unveiled its first project, to cover school and hospital roofs in solar panels.
A friend said that Miliband’s previous experience of government had put him “in very good stead”, with other ministers “slightly in awe of how he gets things done”.
“If there’s a blockage he picks up the phone to another minister directly, he doesn’t wait for days and weeks for meetings to be arranged between officials.
But others see this single mindedness as a weakness. Miliband, claims Conservative MP and former Climate Minister Graham Stuart, sees climate policy “as some sort of religious crusade” and is therefore “a real danger to our ability to maintain the political consensus to deliver net zero.”
Ditching net zero ‘would be error for Labour’
On net zero, supporters of Miliband and his clean energy drive more broadly argue that ditching the commitment would be highly damaging to Labour.
“Labour got a massive mandate in 2024, and the policies that were voted for had two major bets on growth.
“If you want to achieve change as a government, you shouldn’t retreat from the sound of gunfire, you should prosecute the case.”
The argument goes that any retreat from net zero would result in Labour bleeding votes to the Lib Dems and the Greens, with even a small swing to those parties potentially gifting the Tories a large number of marginal seats without having to increase their own vote share.
Some around Miliband are confident that the Government will stay the course on net zero, echoing McTernan’s argument about the centrality of clean energy to Labour’s growth agenda.
Starmer’s decision to personally front announcements such as new funding for carbon capture and storage, and to take time out of his schedule last November to fly to the COP climate summit in Azerbaijan are also cited as evidence of the Prime Minister’s commitment.
A source close to the Miliband said: “For five years we’ve built a climate agenda that is rooted in the economic change people want to see, prioritising energy security, good industrial jobs, public ownership.”
The source close to him said: “We will fight the Conservatives and Reform on an argument that they want to make the UK eve more dependent on Putin. They don’t want to take back control – and they oppose British ownership of new clean power.”
No10 was approached for comment.
How Miliband stuck around after crushing defeat
Miliband’s career to date has already seen its fair share of highs and lows.
Reaching Gordon Brown’s Cabinet while he was still in his thirties, he took on and beat older brother David for the Labour leadership in 2010, becoming the youngest leader in the party’s history.
For a time, it looked like he might well oust David Cameron from No10 and pull off the feat of returning Labour to government after just one term.
However, when the exit poll for the 2015 general election dropped, it was crushing for Miliband and his team, with Labour shedding seats and Cameron’s Conservatives winning an outright majority.
During the hiatus of Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-left leadership, there was a sojourn for Miliband on the backbenches and a podcasting side-hustle.
But when the Labour moderates reclaimed control of the party in 2020 in the form of Starmer, Miliband returned to the Shadow Cabinet as shadow business secretary – a position he held until he was reshuffled to the energy brief in 2021.
Admirers of Miliband praise his decision to stay in politics.
Tom Baldwin, who served as Miliband’s head of communications when he was Labour leader, told The i Paper: “He deserves enormous credit for sticking around.
“The aftermath of the 2015 election was difficult for everybody involved, and it would have been very easy for Ed to have walked away from politics.
“I think what he’s shown by staying the course is what we always knew – that he’s in politics for the right reasons, because he wants to change things.”
McTernan said that Miliband had “grown since he lost the 2015 election”.
“Some people retire hurt from battle, but he fought hard and has come back,” McTernan said. “As steel is tempered in the fire, he’s come back tempered from the defeat, stronger.”
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