The Milibands: surviving sibling rivalry

The Milibands: surviving sibling rivalry Sensibly, because of how it might have looked, they were not sitting next to one another. David stood up first, as soon as the result was known, and Ed followed him. David clasped his brother tightly, and said something in his ear. There were some older-brother gestures: vigorous pats on the back, and even a ruffling of Ed's hair – not something, I suspect, that has ever previously been done in public to the leader of the Labour party.

At last Ed broke free, then walked up on stage to simultaneously fulfil his life's ambition and end his brother's, perhaps permanently. "There is no psycho-drama," the new Labour leader declared afterwards, and it is easy to see why he would prefer the country to move on to matters bigger than the state of relations with his older brother. But if Ed Miliband really has just trampled all over David's dreams without inflicting any lasting emotional wounds, then that surely is a first as well.

This was certainly the reaction of psychologist Linda Blair. "I thought, Oh boy!" she says, "because firstborns are so competitive . . . There are more of them in top positions, because they fight to get up there. So it's really going to hurt [David] not to have secured [the leadership] before his brother." So strong is this older sibling's drive, Blair adds, that younger ones often just prefer to get out of the way of it. "Usually they try to find other areas to compete in. I think it's going to be really hard for [Ed] not to want to crow about it. That would be natural, because he has beaten the odds in every way."