Siblings clash in UK political battle

The increasingly bitter "battle of the Milibands" for the leadership of Britain's opposition Labour Party has reached new heights as David and Ed pace the final lap of the race.

Younger brother Ed has dramatically ditched New Labour and called for an end to the party's drift towards "brutish" and "unjust" United States-style capitalism.

Big brother David, by contrast, has declared New Labour to be "living and breathing in every community" as he announced himself "ready to lead" its renewal.

All five candidates stepped up campaigning this week as ballot papers were sent out to around 200,000 Labour supporters. The winner will be announced on September 26,a day before Labour's annual conference.

Drawing a deliberate distinction with the joint architect of New Labour, Peter Mandelson, who once said he was "supremely relaxed about people getting filthy rich", Ed Miliband, the former Energy and Climate Change Secretary, also promised an assault on pay inequality.

"It is plain wrong to think that we can build a stronger society when we are relaxed about bankers paid 200 times that of their cleaners." The younger Miliband says that, while New Labour achieved "great things", in the end its limitations were exposed.

He argues that, under Labour, society became "more unequal as a country and many middle- and low-income families were left feeling squeezed, part of a society where we work the longest hours in Western Europe".

In terms that will endear him to many on the left, he calls for a new kind of capitalism that rejects the US model that many in New Labour wanted to imitate.

"Britain's big question of the next decade is whether we head towards an increasingly US-style capitalism - more unequal, more brutish, more unjust - or can we build a different model?"

David Miliband, who concedes that New Labour was far from perfect, insists, however, that it should be proud of its record and is determined that it should remain a party of broad appeal among both its traditional supporters and the middle classes.

The shadow foreign secretary, who has the support of most members of the shadow cabinet, this week sent out letters and leaflets to Labour supporters asking for their vote.

In a race that has created real tensions between the brothers and their camps, he called for unity and claimed to have the necessary experience to defeat the Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, a quality he believes his brother lacks.

"There has to be a new era of politics. We need to be fighting the Tories - not each other," he said.

Focusing on the need to reorganise the party and learn from US President Barack Obama's methods, he promised "a new type of leadership that gives party members, our greatest asset, the recognition and support they deserve".

- OBSERVER

LABOUR LEADERSHIP TIMETABLE

Today:

* Ballot papers went to the Labour Party's 160,000 members. They have a third of the votes in Labour's electoral college, as do the trade unions and Labour MPs.
* The five candidates were to take part in a televised debate.
* Tony Blair's memoir, A Journey, published.

Sunday: The five candidates go head-to-head on Sky News.

September 9: Deadline for new members to join the party and vote in the contest.

September 23: Voting ends.

September 26-29: Result is announced at start of Labour's annual party conference, in Manchester. New party leader makes first keynote address.

October 14: New leader faces David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions for the first time.

- INDEPENDENT