Miliband, David (1965– )

UK Labour Party politician, foreign secretary from 2007. A New Labour policy specialist, who worked closely as an advisor to Tony Blair between 1994 and 2001, he rose rapidly within the Labour Party and government after being elected member of Parliament for South Shields in 2001. Prior to entering the cabinet in May 2005 as minister of communities and local government he was a school standards minister and a cabinet office minister with responsibility for e-government and deregulation. He was secretary of state for environment, food, and rural affairs 2006–07.

Born in London, he studied at Oxford University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained a masters degree in political science. He then worked at the centre-left think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, and at the Commission on Social Justice (1992–94), before becoming leader of Tony Blair's opposition office (1994–97) and head of the Downing Street policy unit (1997–2001). In 1994 he edited the influential New Labour treatise, ‘Reinventing the Left’.