Miliband shrugs off leadership speculation

The Foreign Secretary rejected as "hearsay" a BBC report that he had been overheard in a lift worrying about comparisons with the Tories' arch-plotter Michael Heseltine.

But despite his breezy dismissal of the row, Mr Miliband's critics seized on it as further proof that he was " accidentprone" and not yet ready to be leader.

One ally of the Prime Minister suggested that photos of Mr Miliband armed with a banana, dancing in a nightclub and with a Mr Bean-style grin as he shook Gordon Brown's hand - taken with the lukewarm reception for his speech - had all combined to take the gloss off his hopes of looking like a statesman.

Mr Miliband's day began with his being dogged by TV crews desperate to check the BBC claims of a private conversation he was alleged to have had in a conference hotel lift last night.

The BBC insists that Mr Miliband failed to recognise one of its journalists when an aide told him that his speech to conference was worth only a "six-out-of-10".

Mr Miliband was said to have replied: "I couldn't have gone any further. It would have been a Heseltine moment."

Initially, the Foreign Secretary said that the row was a "fuss about nothing" but later his aides hardened their line and insisted that none of the quotations was true.

Mr Miliband's allies added that it was "strange" the BBC had not identified the journalist who was alleged to have overheard his remarks.

Mr Miliband said today: "I do not accept any of the allegations that are being put around. This hearsay that the BBC is repeating with absolutely no basis is something that they should know better than."

He also rejected any suggestion that he had toned down his comments. "I did the best possible speech I could and people can make their judgment about it," he said.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Miliband - who is seen by many ministers as the most likely contender to succeed Mr Brown - trod a fine line, praising the Prime Minister as an "inspiration" in international affairs.

He also got a boost when he learned that an aide of Barack Obama had sat in on his speech yesterday and whispered "he reminds me of Obama".

His critics believe Mr Miliband was badly advised to stage "at home" interviews at the weekend before the conference-because they allowed speculation-about his ambitions to run riot. "He then had to row back and be loyal to Gordon and say he will lead us to the next election - it just looks shambolic," one MP said today.

But one Labour figure, an admirer of the Foreign Secretary, pointed out that attacks were "pretty ironic" coming from friends of Mr Brown.

After all, the source said, it was Mr Brown who had been likened to Mr Bean in the House of Commons and it was Mr Brown who has trouble smiling properly for the cameras.