David Miliband, who narrowly lost the Labour leadership election to his brother, has announced his intention to bow out of frontline politics.
"The party needs a fresh start from its new leader, and I think that is more likely to be achieved if I make a fresh start," Mr Miliband (45) said in a statement this evening.
"This is now Ed's party to lead and he needs to be able to do so as free as possible from distraction," the former UK foreign secretary said.
The defeated leadership candidate left Manchester yesterday evening after his brother addressed Labour's annual conference in the city.
"Any new leader needs time and space to set his or her own direction, priorities and policies. I believe this will be harder if there is constant comparison with my comments and position as a member of the shadow Cabinet," he said in the statement.
"I genuinely fear perpetual, distracting and destructive attempts to find division where there is none and splits where they don't exist, all to the detriment of the party's cause," he said. "Ed needs a free hand but also an open field."
Speaking earlier today, Ed Miliband predicted that his brother would “be around in one way or another”, and said he would work closely with him even if he chose to remain outside the shadow cabinet.
As Ed used yesterday’s leadership speech to distance himself from the former New Labour regime by branding the invasion of Iraq “wrong”, David was caught on camera turning to deputy leader Harriet Harman and saying: “You voted for it, why are you clapping?”
But the new leader played down the significance of the comment, telling the BBC: “I don’t think my views on Iraq will have come as a surprise to David, because we did 40 or 50 hustings during this campaign and most of them had a question about Iraq and we expressed a different view.
“I lead this party now and it is right that I say to the public - because it is about the public, it isn’t about me and David - where I stand on the big issues, and Iraq is one of the big issues.” Ed Miliband insisted that it would not “cast a shadow” over his leadership if his brother chose not to serve under him.
He said he would slow the speed at which the budget deficit is being narrowed if economic growth faltered.
The party leader said Labour's policy of cutting the shortfall in half over four years is a "good starting point" and rejected deeper spending reductions even if the economy improved.
He said the coalition government's plan to almost close the gap by 2015 is dangerous and will harm British society.
The comments are the clearest indication yet that a future Labour administration would abandon UK prime minister David Cameron's proposals for the deepest spending cuts since the second World War.
They come two days after the International Monetary Fund praised Mr Cameron's plans, saying their "benefits outweigh the expected costs in terms of adverse effects on near-term growth."
Chancellor George Osborne has outlined spending cuts and tax increases totalling £113 billion (€131 billion) to reduce a deficit of 11 per cent of economic output.
Further details will be given in the government's comprehensive spending review on October 20th.
Agencies