Do we like them?

Do we like Ed Miliband?

Our score: 8 out of 10. Nothing harmful turned up and he has spoken up for trans people, but we found less on how he treats people than we wanted.

Ed Miliband is a former Labour leader and long-time MP for Doncaster North. In his own words, his parents came to Britain as Jewish refugees from the Nazis, and that story runs through his politics. He has spent two decades in and around the top of Labour, and in 2026 he landed the Foreign Office.

His defining moment came in 2013, when he opposed UK military action against Bashar al-Assad's regime after a chemical weapons attack. His opposition helped defeat the government's plan in a Commons vote. Critics said it undermined Britain's standing. Supporters praised his demand for clear evidence and a strategy, and he later cited it when asked if he was tough enough to be PM: “Hell, yes, I'm tough enough”.

The only scandal-flavoured item that turned up is a dud. Facebook posts claimed he'd resigned over links to Epstein and Peter Mandelson, and Full Fact rated that false in February 2026. He is mentioned in the Epstein files, but only in newspaper headlines and in a briefing Mandelson forwarded, and Full Fact notes that being named doesn't imply wrongdoing.

On the harm check, we found nothing nasty. In 2017 he criticised newspapers for whipping up a “moral panic” over trans issues, comparing it to 1980s anti-gay coverage. He also urged progressives not to leave the subject to others, or nasty stuff gets written. We didn't find him working with anyone pushing harm either, though we couldn't open every page we wanted to.

The recent story is the Israel reset. On 1 September, at his first Foreign Office questions, he told MPs the government would act with a comprehensive set of measures in the coming weeks. He warned British companies involved in financing, constructing or advertising new settlements. Where you land depends on whether you read it as overdue accountability or as a risky break with allies. He also named support for Ukraine and a sustainable peace in Palestine and Israel as priorities.

On the good stuff, the honest answer is that this card is thin. His record on trans rights, and his stand against UK involvement in Syria in 2013 and in the Iran action earlier this year, are the main things the pages we opened support. We tried to open more on his climate work and local awards, but those pages wouldn't load, so we've left them out.