Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British Labour Party politician, who is the current Leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition of the United Kingdom. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005 and served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Gordon Brown.
Born in London, Miliband graduated from Oxford University and the London School of Economics, becoming first a Labour Party researcher, and rising to become one of Chancellor Gordon Brown's confidants, being appointed Chairman of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers. Miliband was elected the Member of Parliament for the South Yorkshire constituency of Doncaster North in the 2005 general election.
As Prime Minister, Gordon Brown appointed Miliband as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster andMinister for the Cabinet Office in his first Cabinet on 28 June 2007. Miliband was subsequently promoted to the post of Secretary of State at the newly-created Department of Energy and Climate Change, a position he held from 3 October 2008 to 11 May 2010. On 25 September 2010 he waselected Leader of the Labour Party with the support of 50.654% of the electoral college.
He is the son of Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband and the younger brother of David Miliband, a leading Labour politician who also contested and was narrowly defeated in the 2010 Labour Leadership contest by his brother. Together the two were the first siblings to sit simultaneously in the British Cabinet since Edward, Lord Stanley and his brother Oliver in 1938.
The next meeting for Labour Party members will be on Friday 15th October 7.30pm Royal Hotel Ablewell Street Walsall led by Valerie Vaz MP with the opportunity for questions and discussion.
A by-election has been called for Rushall ward on thursday 11th November.. apparently by the Monster raving etc party.. if the time had slipped a few more days this would not have been run and the election held next May which would have probably been more sensible. However we await the impact on the severe October cuts on voters.!
