David Miliband

Prime Minister Rudd

I first met Kevin Rudd in the 1990s. He combines strong values and high levels of technical competence - both on display during his Marr interview yesterday. His government web page  is pretty good too. He has worked very closely with our Prime Minister in the G20 economic process, and as President Obama made clear at his press conference last week, has left an impression in Washington too. Prime Minister Rudd has some choice Australian words for the idea that the London Summit has failed before it has begun. It's a British thing to knock your own ideas; for most of the leaders involved there is still a lot to play for, and the substance of the agreement already registered is substantial. To be fair the FT leader made this point yesterday - as has Will Hutton in the Observer and Anatole Kaletsky in the Times. One other point: the G20 process has ALREADY led to commitments in areas like tax havens that people previously said were impossible.

Posted at 16:42 31 March 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]