Brothers vie for UK Labour leadership

VOTING was set to start yesterday to elect a new leader of Britain's Labour party months after it was ousted from power after 13 years, with former foreign secretary David Miliband tipped to succeed Gordon Brown.

Miliband's campaign was also in the spotlight as former prime minister Tony Blair published his memoirs, entitled "A Journey", and made comments interpreted as supportive of his former adviser.

But Miliband faces a strong challenge from his younger brother Ed in the race, which was triggered when Brown quit in May following Labour's first general election defeat since 1992.

Ballot papers have been sent out to some 160,000 Labour party members, who have a third of the votes, Labour lawmakers in the British and European parliaments who have another third and trade unionists who get the last chunk.

Results of the contest will be announced on September 25, the day before Labour's annual conference.

David Miliband, 45, was foreign secretary under Brown but is seen as closer to Blair and is strongly associated with the New Labour years under him, when the left-wing party moved further to the centre ground.

Ed Miliband, 40, was Brown's climate change and energy secretary and previously served him as an advisor. In addition, he wrote Labour's manifesto for the May general election. He wants to reach out to disillusioned Labour voters and has spoken against New Labour ideas following a steady decline in the party's popularity in the last decade. The rivalry between the brothers has dominated the race and was labelled a "soap opera" by another of the candidates, former education secretary Ed Balls. The others in the contest are left-winger Diane Abbott and Andy Burnham, a former health secretary. All take part in a televised debate on British television later yesterday. David Miliband seems to be ahead at this stage — according to a projection last week for leading Labour blog Left Foot Forward, he has around 36 percent of first preference votes while Ed Miliband has 31 percent, while Balls, Abbott and Burnham all have around 11 per cent.AFP