Britain’s Labor Party chooses leader

Los Angeles Times

LONDON

Britain’s Labor Party chose the younger of two brothers as its new leader Saturday, selecting Ed Miliband over his older sibling to lead the party back from its electoral drubbing this spring after 13 years in power.

Miliband, 40, who served as secretary for energy and climate change in the government of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is the youngest leader in Labor Party history. After three other rivals were eliminated, he defeated his brother, David, the former foreign secretary who until recently was considered the favorite, by slightly more than one percentage point in balloting on the eve of the party’s annual conference.

As party leader, Miliband would lead Labor into elections and become prime minister should it win.

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