London - Ed Miliband says he will be less likely to marry the mother of his children if people keep pestering him about it.
The Labour leader said he would not be pushed into tying the knot with Justine Thornton, insisting: “She’s not my wife”, before apparently adding: “Thank God.”
Speaking to GQ magazine, he said he respected the institution of marriage, but it was not up to politicians to force people into it, adding that many unmarried couples formed stable families.
On Sunday night Miliband denied saying “thank God” he was not married during his interview with Piers Morgan and claimed that GQ had taken the quote out of context.
Miliband, who is the first leader of a major political party to live with his family out of wedlock, has been criticised for failing to marry Thornton, a 40-year-old Cambridge-educated barrister.
Traditionalists have also attacked him for not at first putting his name on the birth certificate of elder son Daniel. He claimed he was so busy he forgot. And when his second son Samuel was born, he took a fortnight’s paternity leave.
He said he would not get married for political expediency, joking that he had a choice about taking paternity leave because he has yet to wed Thornton.
Former Daily Mirror editor Morgan teased the Labour leader by continually referring to Thornton as his “wife”. In an early exchange, he asked the MP about his decision to take paternity leave so soon after winning the top job. Miliband said: “Justine would have killed me (if I hadn’t), and rightly.”
Morgan replied: “She’d have murdered you?” to which the 41-year-old responded: “Well, no.”
The interviewer quipped: “God, 30 seconds in and there’s your headline: ‘My Wife’s Going to Kill Me, says Miliband’.”
Miliband hit back: “She’s not my wife. Thank God for that, probably.”
Sensing he had touched a raw nerve, Morgan later persisted: “Are you a good husband?”, prompting the exasperated reply: “I’m not her husband.”
Later, Miliband told Morgan that Thornton owns their £1.6 million house. “So you married a millionaire?” teased the Britain’s Got Talent judge.
“I’m not married!” replied Miliband.
‘So your wife owns the house?” asked Morgan.
“She’s not my wife,’ Miliband hit back.
“So your girlfriend owns the house?”
Miliband replied: “My partner. Girlfriend sounds too temporary.”
Asked for his views on marriage, Miliband said: “It’s a good institution and part of having stable families, but there are also people in unmarried relationships with stable families. I don’t think politicians should order people to get married.”
He insisted he would eventually tie the knot, adding: “We’ll get married because we want to get married and love each other very much, no other reason.”
In later questions, Miliband avoided the mistake of Nick Clegg in a similar interview when he refused to divulge how many woman he had slept with.
He also told GQ, which comes out on Thursday, that he never took drugs at university, saying he was a “bit square” in his youth.
And he went on to admit that he was often beaten up in the playground at school. - Daily Mail