Britain's opposition Labour Party elected young lawmaker Ed Miliband as its new leader Saturday after he narrowly defeated his older and better-known brother in a contest to replace former prime minister Gordon Brown. Miliband, the 40-year-old ex-climate change secretary, squeezed out his elder brother David Miliband, the 45-year-old former foreign secretary, in a ballot of legislators, party activists and about 3.5 million labour union members.
Ed Miliband got 50.65 percent of votes, to his brother's 49.35 percent, in a final round of voting. Three other candidates also competed in the contest to replace Brown, who stepped down in May after Labour came in second in a national election and was removed from office after 13 years by the Conservative Party-led coalition government. In a victory speech, Miliband said the 2003 Iraq invasion had dented trust in the Labour Party, and pledged to restore the faith of the British public.
``Never in my wildest imagination did I ever believe that I would one day lead this party,' he told activists at a rally in Manchester, northern England. Miliband and his brother embraced as the result was announced, and the younger sibling offered an emotional tribute.
``David, I love you so much as a brother and I have such extraordinary respect for the campaign that you ran,' he said. ``You taught us the most important lesson, which is we can be a party which reaches out to the community and we can also be a serious party of government again.' Talking directly to his brother who appeared to struggle to contain his emotion the younger man said: ``We all know how much you have to offer this country in the future.'
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