Prime minister picks Cabinet

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Alina Parkins LONDON (AP) - Britain's new leader chose his senior circle of ministers today, picking David Miliband, the youngest foreign secretary in decades and a rising star who voiced doubts over the Iraq war. Miliband, a 41-year-old environment chief, was confirmed as Foreign Secretary, according to a British government official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. Gordon Brown, who became prime minister Wednesday after waiting for a decade, planned a host of changes from Tony Blair's final team, bringing a crop of young legislators into his government. Miliband was pressed by some Blair loyalists to run against Brown to succeed Blair, but chose instead to back the new premier. He pushed Blair, along with ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, to take a tougher line with Israel over last year's conflict in Lebanon. Aides claim he also expressed private reservations over the Iraq war, though Miliband voted to authorize military action in 2003. Much like new French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Brown also was seeking to offer roles to opposition legislators and leading business figures. British media reported that Chris Patten, an opposition Conservative who was the last British governor of Hong Kong, and Baroness Shirley Williams, a Liberal Democrat peer and war critic, would be offered junior posts.