New United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Monday appointed former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband as the nation's new foreign secretary. Miliband, who previously served as energy secretary, stated that the appointment is the "honor of my life."
The appointment has seen renewed attention on a widely mocked photograph of Miliband struggling to eat a bacon sandwich at a London cafe a decade prior. The image, captured by Jeremy Selwyn for the Evening Standard newspaper, led to months of online mockery and parodies under the hashtag #EdEats. Some observers at the time suggested the gaffe may have contributed to the Labour Party's significant defeat in the 2015 general election.
A post-election analysis by the Labour Party reportedly found that voters perceived Miliband as weaker than the Conservative Party leader David Cameron and less "prime ministerial." Miliband was eventually forced out as party leader about a year after the sandwich incident following the 2015 election loss.
Social media users have reacted to Miliband's new role, with some predicting further public missteps. "Trump is going to humiliate Miliband repeatedly on the world stage," one X user wrote. Another commented, "Sending Ed Miliband to represent the UK on the world stage? The bacon sandwich photo op was bad enough — now foreign diplomats get to deal with him." Miliband, in a statement, pledged to "fight for Britain’s interests and our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law on the world stage" and to "nurture our strong, enduring and essential alliance with the United States."
He added that in a time of increasing global instability and threats to international law, these values are paramount. "From Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine to conflict in the Middle East, time and again we have seen the consequences of a more dangerous world in the cost of living crisis that families and businesses face," Miliband stated. "For Britain, that means we must work with others to defend the principles that we cherish, because it is in our national interest to do so, building on the excellent work of my predecessors and friends." Miliband will serve as the UK's counterpart to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.