Miliband's article fuels talk of plot against Brown

LONDON (AFP) - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday the Labour Party must start offering “real change”, in comments seen as a strong hint he may challenge Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the top job.

Miliband used an article in the Guardian newspaper to say that the party, in power since 1997, could still win the next general election despite a growing threat from the main Opposition Conservatives led by David Cameron.

Labour had to offer “real change, not just in policy but in the way we do politics”, he said, in a piece that pointedly failed to mention Brown, who faces rising discontent from lawmakers amid a string of poor by-election results.

“Let’s stop feeling sorry for ourselves, enjoy a break and then find the confidence to make our case afresh,” Miliband wrote.