Tory MP calls on David Miliband to work for coalition
Wednesday, 13 October 2010 12:00 AM
By Peter Wozniak
A Tory MP has called for David Miliband and other figures on the right of Labour to find a home in the coalition government.
Nick Boles, a new Conservative MP, has made a name for himself promoting an electoral pact with the Lib Dems.
He has now expanded his sights to call David Miliband to join "the spirit of reform" found in the coalition.
The MP wrote in an article in the Guardian: "If President Obama can keep Republican Robert Gates as secretary of state for defence, does Britain have to forfeit the remarkable talent of David Miliband?"
Mr Boles also name-checked Andrew Adonis and James Purnell as in keeping with his vision of a reforming coalition government.
"Their membership of Labour should not bar them from playing their part," he added.
The coalition has invited a number of Labour figures including Alan Milburn, John Hutton and Frank Field as 'tsars' - advisers on specific policy areas.
John Prescott decried as a "betrayal" Mr Hutton's decision to report to the government on public sector pensions reform.
Meanwhile Mr Boles laid stinging criticism at the feet of Labour's new leadership, comparing the Labour conference to a "1950s B&B" which "put a notice in its front window: 'No markets, no Blairites'."
The Conservative MP's zeal for coalition and particularly for some kind of electoral pact between the Lib Dems and Tories at the next election have not been widely shared by members of his own party.
Both coalition partners have categorically ruled out such a pact, saying they will fight the 2015 general election as separate parties presenting separate manifestos.
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