Ed Miliband is said to have defied a bid by Sir Keir Starmer to remove him from the energy department and give him Angela Rayner’s former department.
The controversial energy secretary, who has become a lightning rod for right-wing attacks on the Labour government because of his commitment to tackling climate change, was offered the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), ITV political editor Robert Peston has claimed on The Rest Is Money podcast.
Mr Miliband apparently point-blank refused to quit his energy secretary job, where he has been on a mission to shut down carbon-powered energy and replace it with solar and wind farms.
In the end, the job went to former environment secretary Steve Reed, who has a background in local government.
But the attempted move appears to be related to concerns that Mr Miliband’s climate change measures are fuelling support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Currently Reform has a 10-point lead over Labour, and Mr Farage has vowed to scrap Net Zero measures.
Added to that Reform-run councils, including Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, are fighting a series of court battles in bids to block Mr Miliband’s plans for solar and wind farms.
Mr Miliband is the guest speaker at the private dinner for leading TUC delegates on Monday night, where he is set to be welcomed as a hero.
One senior TUC figure said: “Ed Miliband is the last left-wing person left in the cabinet, so he has our support.”
He arrives in Brighton amid claims by union members and the left of the Labour Party that the prime minister’s reshuffle was “a right-wing coup” by Blairites in the party and has put things like workers’ rights legislation at risk.
Sir Keir notably will not be the keynote speaker this year, leaving the task instead to education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Among those worried about Mr Miliband’s policies in the Department for Energy are thought to be allies of chancellor Rachel Reeves, who see them as preventing growth and putting energy prices up.
