Why has Labour briefed against Ed Miliband – is it his success and popularity?

Tories, Reform, fossil fuel industry and some in his party lined up against net zero agenda as energy secretary “Whenever the Labour party feels a bit sad,” according to one close observer of the current government, speaking some months ago, “they wheel out Ed Miliband to talk about rooftop solar.” It might not have been literally true, but it often felt during Keir Starmer’s premiership as if energy secretary Miliband brought the sun. Unfailingly upbeat, with a simple message that was unders...

By Fiona Harvey Environment editor