David Milband has been lying low for the past few months. His appearances in Parliament have been few and far between – a few debates, a select committee hearing. So it is perhaps understandable that some have been hailing his lecture at the LSE last night, entitled ‘Why is the European Left losing elections?’, as hinting of his return to high profile politics.

His speech attempted to address what he called the “unprecedented scale” on which social democratic parties in six of Europe’s major democracies – Britain, Sweden, Germany, France, Holland and Italy – are losing elections. This, he said, is “not an accident or some kind of cosmic joke”, but as a result of a number of factors including the resurgent reunification of the right.

He went on to outline his proposed solution to this decline on the left, and it was a solution that was very strongly reminiscent of Blair, Brown and the early years of New Labour:

We are not apologists for globalisation. We are reformers.

“When left of centre parties are able to fight elections as private sector reformers, in the name of efficiency and not just fairness, they can win. When they do so, and make government an ally in wealth creation and a defence against corporate abuse of power, they turn the antipathy of the right to government on its head.”

It was this central thesis that recalled so strongly the hustings that lead up to the Labour leadership vote last autumn. Over the summer, it became increasingly clear that it was Ed Milband’s willingness to abandon Labour’s 2010 election manifesto (which he authored) and admit mistakes on financial regulation and Iraq that was opening up a gap between himself and his brother.

His New Labour-inspired model for the economy wasn’t the only indication that David Miliband is still determined to uphold what he considers to be the positive aspects of Labour’s record in government. He referred to the European left’s struggle to move on from the Iraq war, and briefly acknowledged their difficulty with the issue of immigration - both problematic issues for British Labour candidates on the doorstep.

For all these reasons, I’m not sure that this was Miliband launching his eventual return to the shadow cabinet. The lecture was undoubtedly impressive, showcasing his secure, confident delivery and containing a strong argument supported by detailed research. But it was very much a lecture, rather than a speech, addressed to an audience that looked to me to be stuffed with political science students and foreign policy think tank specialists rather than to Labour members.

Miliband’s continued insistence to stand by aspects of Labour’s record in government, and the principles that underlay the New Labour project (particularly on the economy), just reinforced once again why Labour preferred his brother as leader, who was prepared to abandon the recent past in his rush to focus on the future.

Tags: David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Labour, LSE