Miliband denies teddy teacher claim

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Mr Miliband insisted it was "absolute nonsense" to suggest he opposed the successful intervention by Labour peer Lord Ahmed and Tory frontbencher Baroness Warsi.

There has been speculation that the Foreign Office was wary of risking the trip by the Muslim peers, and instead favoured letting Mrs Gibbons serve out her 15-day sentence for allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

Mr Miliband is also said to have objected to the involvement of Lady Warsi on the grounds that as a Conservative she had no right to take part.

However, he told Sky News' Sunday Live the truth was "quite the opposite".

"It's absolute nonsense and the people that I talk to across the political spectrum know it is nonsense that I tried to stop her from going," he said.

"I utterly reject the idea that at any stage we tried to stop them."

Mr Miliband insisted he was not worried who got the credit for resolving the situation because the "important thing" was that Mrs Gibbons had been returned safely.