Ed: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader [Hardcover]

Macintyre and Hasan have penned the essential guide to Labour s new leader. --Adam Boulton

In this biography, based on interviews with scores of his friends, critics and colleagues, two of Britain s finest young political journalists penetrate far beyond the prevailing gossip and hearsay to provide an illuminating portrait of the youngest Labour leader in the party s history. Writing with verve and acuity, the authors provide the first authoritative account of Miliband s dramatic rise to power. --Jonathan Dimbleby

Well written and expertly researched, this book is essential reading for anybody wanting to understand either Ed Miliband or the modern Labour Party. --Peter Oborne

Exhaustively researched and written with unflagging energy ... may prove to be the definitive account of the formative years and rise to power... --John Gray, The Guardian

Well written and expertly researched, this book is essential reading for anybody wanting to understand either Ed Miliband or the modern Labour Party. --Peter Oborne

"Macintyre and Hasan have penned the essential guide to Labour's new leader." Adam Boulton "In this biography, based on interviews with scores of his friends, critics and colleagues, two of Britain's finest young political journalists penetrate far beyond the prevailing gossip and hearsay to provide an illuminating portrait of the youngest Labour leader in the party's history. Writing with verve and acuity, the authors provide the first authoritative account of Miliband's dramatic rise to power." JONATHAN DIMBLEBY "In this biography, based on interviews with scores of his friends, critics and colleagues, two of Britain's finest young political journalists penetrate far beyond the prevailing gossip and hearsay to provide an illuminating portrait of the youngest Labour leader in the party's history. Writing with verve and acuity, the authors provide the first authoritative account of Miliband's dramatic rise to power." JONATHAN DIMBLEBY "A well researched, clear-eyed close-up look at Ed Miliband and the conditions in which he got elected to the toughest job in British politics. The insights are illuminating. The writing is vigorous. No perspective of contemporary politics will be complete without it." Neil Kinnock

What makes a man put politics and ambition before family? Ed Miliband is perhaps the least understood political leader of modern times. This book reveals where he has come from and where he is going. It charts his unique upbringing, against the backdrop of tragedy and with a prominent Marxist thinker for a father. ED follows his coming of age at Oxford, his election to Parliament and asks whether the pressures of being Labour party leader are swaying him from deep personal and ideological convictions. But Ed s story cannot be fully understood outside the context of his struggle to emerge from the shadow of his elder brother, David. Ed followed David to the same college at Oxford, into Parliament and into the Cabinet before, at the eleventh hour, snatching away David s dream of the leadership. Ed Miliband s political hero is Robert Kennedy but, unlike the Kennedys, the Milibands fought to the bitter end, rather than supporting one another. ED gets to the heart of the dramatic decision-making that led him to join that epic leadership battle and reveals the hidden truth behind the making of a Labour leader.

Mehdi Hasan is Senior Editor (Politics) at the New Statesman and is a former news editor at Channel 4 News. He is a regular on BBC s Question Time. James Macintyre recently left the New Statesman, in order to concentrate on writing this book. He was previously a political reporter for the Independent.