Main content

Rt Hon Ed Miliband

Kirsty Young interviews the Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, leader of the opposition.

Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, joins Kirsty Young to choose his Desert Island Discs.

He's been in charge of his party for three years and was the youngest leader they'd ever elected. But that fact got somewhat lost in the drama that surrounded his coronation: famously, he stood against his brother, David. To say the younger brother's victory upset the political apple cart would be something of an understatement.

Politics is in his pores. His mother was a human rights campaigner, his father a renowned Marxist academic. Both parents came from Jewish families who settled in Britain having only just survived the Nazis.

Looking though his CV - clever comprehensive schoolboy, degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford, an intern for Tony Benn, Economics lecturer at Harvard, Special Advisor to Gordon Brown - it's clear, for him, there's only ever been one abiding passion.

He says, politics "is not something I chose. It's not something I learned from books, even from my Dad's books. It was something I was born into."

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 29 Nov 2013 09:00

Music Played

  • The original soundtrack musicians

    Nkosi Sikelel’ i’Afrika

    • Cry Freedom soundtrack.
    • MCA.
  • Sir Hubert Parry

    Jerusalem

    Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.
    • Cambridge Classics.
  • Paul Robeson

    Joe Hill

    • Songs for Free Men.
    • Pearl.
  • ²¹â€h²¹

    Take on Me

    • Headlines and Deadlines.
    • Warner.
  • Neil Diamond

    Sweet Caroline

    • 20 Golden Hits.
    • MCA.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Robbie Williams

      Angels

      • Now thatÂ’s What I call Music 39.
      • Now.
  • Josh Ritter

    Change of Time

    • Change of Time.
    • Independent Records Ireland.
  • Édith Piaf

    Je Ne Regrette Rien

    • Piaf at the Paris Olympia.
    • Columbia.
  • Book Choice

    • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

  • Luxury Choice

    • Weekly delivery of a Chicken Tikka takeaway

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Ed Miliband
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 24 Nov 2013 11:15
  • Fri 29 Nov 2013 09:00

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast