British opposition urged to forget brothers' 'soap opera' and move on

David Miliband Monday urged Britain's opposition Labour Party to forget the "soap opera" of his sibling rivalry with his younger brother Ed, who beat him to the party leadership.

The former foreign minister begged the party to unite behind Ed and bury the bitter infighting seen between former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

David Miliband said at Labour's annual conference in Manchester, northwest England, that the party must give its undivided loyalty to his brother if it wants to oust the Conservative-Liberal coalition government.

"No more cliques, no more factions, no more soap opera - one united Labour Party taking on one divided government," he said. "I have been incredibly honored and humbled by the support you have given me, but we have a great new leader and we have to get behind him."

However, he refused to say whether would serve under his brother.

"This is a conference not about me but about Ed's leadership," David Miliband told reporters as he arrived at the Manchester Central conference venue. "I am not going to get into this until the conference is well and truly done and Ed's got his speech out of the way."

He has until tomorrow to stand for election as one of the party's front-bench spokesmen.

AFP