David Miliband criticises his brother Ed's leadership of the Labour party but rules himself out of running

Former Foreign Secretary says his brother Ed Miliband failed because voters 'did not want what was being offered'

David Miliband entered into the debate on Labour's future (Getty Images)

David Miliband has criticised his brother's leadership of the Labour party, saying he failed to do enough to woo the middle classes and voters "did not want what was being offered".

But he ruled himself out of running for the Labour leadership himself and refused to be drawn on who he believed was best to take over from his brother.

In his first interview since his brother lost the election, he said: “Both in 2010 and in 2015 Gordon and then Ed allowed themselves as being portrayed as moving backwards from the principles aspirations and inclusion that are at the absolute heart of any successful, progressive, political project.

"The answer is not to go back to 1997, it's to build on the achievements and remedy the weaknesses, but never to end up in a position where the electorate think you are going backwards rather than addressing the issues of the future."

David Miliband gives his first interview since his brother lost the election (BBC)

He said many of the attacks on Ed were "unpleasant and unfair," but he had dealt with them with "dignity".

The elder Miliband brother was speaking from New York City, where he moved to in 2013 to head up the International Rescue Committee charity after he lost the Labour leadership election to his younger brother.

He described last week’s election result as “devastating” for the Labour party and its supporters but said there was no point blaming voters.

"There's absolutely no point in blaming the electorate,” he said in the interview with the BBC. “Any suggestion that they didn't 'get it' is wrong. They didn't want what was being offered."

Asked if he would return to Britain to put himself forward as a contender to replace his brother as leader, Mr Miliband said: "I'm clearly not a candidate in this leadership election.

"I'm here in New York. I'm running a global charity that's delivering aid to millions of people around the world. The commitment I have to the job I've got doesn't change as a result of the election.

"What I passionately hope for is that friends and colleagues who are in the UK now will take up the mantle of a dynamic, progressive politics that's able to speak to millions of people around the country."

Now his brother had stood down as leader he hoped he would be "freer" to participate in a debate about the future direction of the Labour party, saying his "passion I've got for Britain and for Labour is undimmed".

"It's as strong as ever. But it's clear that I'm not a member of Parliament. I took that decision not to be part of a soap opera over the last five years.

"I wanted Labour to be able to have that debate in a clear way, make its case in a clear way without any sense of distraction from me. And I hope now people can listen to what I say as someone who's trying to contribute but obviously isn't party to the race that's going on."

The two brothers had been in touch, Mr Miliband said, but said he will always keep details of their private discussions private. "I'm very happy to say we remain in touch. I think that many of the attacks on him were unpleasant and unfair and I think he dealt with them with enormous dignity and courage.

"I've always said that I'll keep our private conversations private, but I've also always said that we remain brothers for life and that's something that has to be kept."

On the day last week’s election results were announced, Mr Milband tweeted: “Heart goes out to great colleagues who lost seats, Labour teams who worked so hard and of course to Ed.

“Deep and honest thinking [is] required to rebuilt progressive politics.”