According to an article in the Sunday Express, Gordon Brown is on the verge of naming Environment Minister David Miliband, 41, as UK Foreign Secretary. This might be as big a step as Bernard Kouchner's appointment in France. First, because Miliband's father was Marxist theoretician Ralph Miliband, a disciple of Harold Laski at the London School of Economics, who came to Britain as a refugee from Belgium in 1940, and represents the success of immigration. Second, because David Miliband himself was the major theoretician of Blairism, as a Third Way between Thatcherite capitalism and Marxist socialism. He was an author of Blair's Manifesto, head of his policy unit, and author of Reinventing the Left(1994). Miliband is clearly a thinker (I have heard him interviewed on BBC Radio Four podcasts, and he is thoughtful and articulate). Finally, it would not go un-remarked upon in capitals around the world that Miliband is Jewish (like Kouchner)--a signal to Bin Laden, Ahmadinejad, and others that EU nations will not be bullied into anti-semitism out of fear of Islamist extremist terrorism. So I hope Brown names Miliband...Of course, Brown might pick someone else and name Miliband to the Home Office, as the article discusses. In which case, the above analysis will have proven moot, at least for the time being. Still, David Miliband is someone to watch. So, here's a link to his blog.
