David Miliband was born in London, on the 15th July 1965. He has been the Labour MP for South Shields since 2001, and in 2007 he was appointed as Foreign Secretary. His brother, Ed Miliband also sits in the Cabinet. David Miliband is married to Louise Shackleton, and together they have adopted two boys.
David Miliband's parents were Jewish immigrants, who fled Belgium in the second world war. David was educated in Leeds, London and the U.S.A, and got a place at the University of Oxford to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics,. He received a first class honours degree, and continued his political studies at MIT. His father was the famous marxist theorist Adolphe Miliband.The name was later changed to Ralph Miliband as it was about as inappropriate a name as one could have for a marxist of Jewish extraction theorising after the war. Miliband now lives in his late father's home in Primrose Hill. It is a stones throw
from where Engels used to live and the area was a magnet for radical Left Wing academics during the sixties. There has been some controversy over the way
David Miliband moved in, the allegation being that he bought out his brother and his mother's share of the house to avoid paying inheritance tax. David Miliband is at the heart of the 'Primrose Hill Gang' a term coined by the media for the upcoming Blairites seen as constantly plotting to replace Brown. Their
politics are far removed from Marx but he does share in Marx's theology for he is a self proclaimed atheist.
A brief outline of David Miliband's Career:
Political Analyst - National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Research Fellow – Institute for Public Policy Research
Secretary of the Commission on Social Justice (1992-1994)
head of Policy for Tony Blair (1994-1997) Aged just 29, he worked closely with Tony Blair in order to introduce policies that would eventually give Labour power in the 1997 election.
Head of Prime Minister's Policy Unit (1997-2001) David was a key figure in establishing the Centre for Europen Reform.
MP for South Shields (2001- present)
Schools Minister ( June 2002)
-Cabinet Office Minister ( December 2004) Replaces Ruth Kelly
-Minister of State for Communities and Local Government (May 2005)
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (May 2006) Replaces Margret Beckett.
Foreign Secretary (June 2007- present) He was appointed to this post the day after Gordon Brown became prime minister.
David Miliband has also edited two books,
Paying for Inequality: Economic Cost of Social Justice (edited with Andrew Glyn), Rivers Oram Press, 1994
Reinventing the Left, Polity Press, 1994
