David Miliband has admitted that life after losing out to his brother in the
Labour leadership bid, admitting ''sometimes hurts.''
The former cabinet minister said he still wanted to help change the world but
''in smaller ways perhaps than I had once hoped''.
Mr Miliband, who lost out to his brother Ed in September, did not rule out a
future return to the frontbenches but said he was taking it ''one parliament
at a time''.
He told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: ''Look, the truth is life never goes
according to plan.
''Actually there isn't a plan. You've got a series of circumstances and you
try and make the best of it.
''Sometimes it hurts. It's worth saying that - sometimes it hurts. But you've
got to get up afterwards and make the best of it.
"And I think there's a world out there. And it's a world of enormous interest
and it's a world that needs to be changed and - in smaller ways perhaps that
I had once hoped - I'll try and make a difference.''
Mr Miliband said he would not follow other prominent politicians on to BBC1's
Strictly Come Dancing or Have I Got News For You.
He added: ''I'm not leader of the Labour party but I still want to help change
the world; I still believe passionately in the causes that got me involved
in politics.
''I hope that being 45 and being a relative veteran doesn't mean that it's all
downhill from here.''
Turning to his relationship with his brother, he said it was important to
separate family from politics.
''You're brothers for life and you're politicians for a parliament at a
time,'' he said.
''And it's very, very important. The other thing about brothers is what's
brotherly is private.''
He added: ''I think he's really touched a chord, Ed, with what he's said about
the squeezed middle. It raises difficult issues about the balance between
tax and spending, about interest rates, a whole of issues.
''But the left has to reclaim ground on the economy.''
Pressed on whether he would join the cabinet if Labour won the next general
election, Mr Miliband said: ''I'm taking this one parliament at a time...
''What's important is that the Labour party makes itself a fighting force
ready to provide a real alternative to the Government.''
He stressed the importance of his South Shields constituency and appeared to
dismiss the idea of heading an institution in Europe or the United States.
''On Europe, we've been there and done that, we went through that a couple of
years ago,'' he said.
Asked whether he would like to be British ambassador in Washington, he
replied: ''A big house, a nice house, but that's not the test of whether or
not you want to do a job.''
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