JK Rowling 'obsessing' over David Miliband following brother Ed's historic Labour defeat in the general election

The party suffered heavy losses, particularly in Scotland

Author J.K. Rowling attends photocall ahead of her reading from 'The Casual Vacancy' at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on September 27, 2012 in London, England. (Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)

JK Rowling may well have been among those hoping the Twitter rumours, upon seeing the results of the exit poll, David Miliband had hopped on a plane from the US to hot-foot it over to the UK and save Labour’s bacon.

The party suffered heavy losses, particularly in Scotland, where the SNP took all but four of their seats in a landslide victory.

The Harry Potter author is a vocal and financial supporter of Labour, and even she found it difficult not to picture herself Ed Miliband’s brother’s shoes:

The brothers competed against each other in the 2010 Labour leadership election, which was triggered by the Labour loss in the General Election of that year, which saw PM Gordon Brown ousted.

Ed beat David by just 1.3 per cent after winning the backing of the trade union vote.

She also paid tribute to outgoing Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy:

Ed Miliband has since resigned as leader of the Labour party.

“It has been a very difficult and disappointing night for Labour,” he said.

“The next Government has a huge responsibility to hold our nation together.”