Blairites must accept Brown is right man for job, says Miliband

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In his first interview since the Chancellor launched his leadership bid on Friday, Mr Miliband said: "Tony was the right man in 1994 and 1997 but Gordon is the right man now.

"Tony said 10 years was enough. People do want a change now - and not just in personnel but in the way we approach politics and Gordon is best placed to provide that."

In comments which will be interpreted as a warning to Blairites that they must unite behind Mr Brown, Mr Miliband - whom many radical Blairites hoped would take on Gordon Brown - enthusiastically embraced the transition of power to the Chancellor.

"Tony would be the last person to say 'you have to do it all the way I did it'. He used to say to me, 'When I'm gone, they'll say I didn't modernise this or that enough and they will probably be right.'

"Time changes, challenges change. It's about where we are now."

Describing his creed as "Post-Blair politics: not Old Labour but Bold Labour", he added: "My pitch would be that this is a time for searching ourselves and talking about what's gone right and what's not gone right. It requires a different type of politics for today's concerns. It isn't a return to the old ways at all. It just has to be different."

But he staked his own claim to a leading role in Mr Brown's promised "cabinet of all the talents"-saying: "It isn't just about one voice. It's about a chorus of voices."

There was, however, no sign that the Chancellor had consulted the Environment Secretary in any detail about his early policy initiative to create 25 green "eco-towns".