ABSTRACT

Ed Miliband’s victory over his older brother David to win the Labour Party leadership plays out the archetypal drama of sibling rivalry that ends with the defeat of the older generation. Both sons, Ed and David, grew up under the powerful influence of their socialist/Marxist father, Ralph Miliband, who, as a Belgian Jew fleeing from the Nazi scourge, was a strong supporter of political activism and the Labour Party. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Antonio usurps his older brother Prospero’s dukedom, and is duly punished by the gods for his unnatural behaviour. Family dinners centred around political debate and socialist principles. While David has been described as more of his father’s intellectual heir, Ed preferred to sneak off to watch the soap opera Dallas on television. Ed’s fascination with the dynastic battles of the Ewing family may have served as a foretaste of his own family battle.