Ed Miliband is leaving frontline politics behind him, it has emerged.
The former Labour leader has ruled out returning to a shadow cabinet role and is expected to announce within days he will be focusing his time on campaigning on inequality and environmental issues as a backbench MP.
The revelation reported in The Times newspaper is expected to dash hopes among some Labour supporters that Mr MIliband would serve in Jeremy Corbyn’s team if he is elected as party leader.
Mr Corbyn has risen from rank outsider to the favourite contender for the party’s leadership in the ongoing election.
And some among the party are said to have hoped Mr Miliband would be appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary, to temper Mr Corbyn’s hard-left stance on Nato and Trident.
But Mr Miliband is reported to have told friends he needs a break from frontline politics after five years as the Labour Party leader.
The 45-year-old, who defeated his brother David to take the party leader role, resigned from his post the day after Labour’s devastating defeat in May’s general election.
Many Labour MPs are now said to be laying the blame at the former leader’s door for Mr Corbyn’s popularity .
Mr Miliband rushed through a new system for selecting the next leader, opening up the election to registered supporters who could pay to vote.
The move has seen thousands of Corbyn supporters signing up to back the Islington North MP.
