David Miliband will be in US as Ed takes centre stage

DAVID Miliband will be in Washington when his brother Ed addresses the Labour Party conference, it has emerged.

Ed Miliband defeated his older sibling in the party’s leadership race 12 months ago and the pair have faced questions over their relationship ever since.

When Labour delegates listen to the younger Miliband’s keynote speech next week, his elder brother will be 4,000 miles away on the other side of the Atlantic.

Former foreign secretary David Miliband will attend just one fringe event at this year’s annual party get-together in Liverpool to avoid “distracting” from his younger brother’s leadership.

Mr Miliband will speak at a Movement For Change meeting on Sunday before flying to the US.

Writing on his blog, the one-time favourite for the leadership says: “I am not doing other events at conference.

“As I said after the last conference, and have repeated throughout the year, Ed is the leader and he needs an open field in which to lead the party as he sees fit.

“I don’t want to be a distraction, so I am not going to be a talking head on TV, or a media focus for soap opera. It’s Ed’s show.”

Earlier, the Labour leader explained his elder brother’s decision to snub most of the five-day event. He said David was “worried” about people following him around.