Ed Miliband never shows up to PMQs because he is ‘traumatised from his time as Labour leader’

ED Miliband refuses to go and support Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs because he is so traumatised from having to do it as Labour leader, party insiders say.

Labour and Tory MPs are usually on strict orders - known as a three line whip - to turn up to watch the weekly clash in Parliament.

But Ed, Labour’s climate change chief, hardly ever shows up. 

A Labour source said: “He never goes to PMQs. I think the last time he was there was when he had to stand in for Keir against Boris Johnson.

“We all think he is so traumatised by his time as Labour leader that he finds it triggering to show up.”

Parliamentary watchers cannot remember the last time Mr Miliband sat in the front row at PMQs.

Although he did have to stand in for Sir Keir when the Labour leader caught covid in October 2021.

When he was Labour leader - between 2010 and 2015 - he had to face off against David Cameron in the weekly political joust.

But most parliamentary watchers reckoned he struggled against the Tory showman.

The revelation amid rumours of a rift between Mr Miliband and Sir Keir after their £28 billion eco U-turn.

Sir Keir dumped the pledge, warning it was too expensive now.

But Mr Miliband was understood to be privately fuming at the decision to scrap his flagship policy.