Brothers discuss refugee crisis and their own family history but not their relationship or Labour

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Ed Miliband has conducted a reflective interview with his brother, David, at the end of a week-long stint guest-presenting the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2.

In their first joint public outing since Ed unexpectedly beat David to the Labour leadership in 2010, the brothers talked about the refugee crisis and their family history of persecution but stopped short of discussing Labour or their relationship, which has reportedly been strained for the last seven years.

In previous shows, Ed has attempted a death metal performance and had a lengthy discussion about the sound of toilets flushing, but he adopted a more serious tone as his elder brother joined him by phone from New York on Friday afternoon.

David, who is now the president of the International Rescue Committee, criticised Donald Trump’s policies on refugees and Theresa May’s decision to revoke a promise made by the Cameron government to take 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children – something he described as a “terrible statement”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Miliband at a refugee camp on Lesbos in 2015 as part of his role at the International Rescue Committee. Photograph: Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters

“For Britain to take a stand is really important,” he said.

“We all have to step up. The numbers that we can welcome to our own countries are relatively small in comparison to the millions that have been displaced, but it’s vital because it sets an example.

“No one is going to persuade me that eight people arriving in South Shields is going to overwhelm the local system. I think that 25,000 refugees would be more in line with the UN. That would be a substantive contribution.”

David also discussed his experiences in Uganda and South Sudan and sought to dispels the “myths” that rich countries bear the biggest burden of the global crisis, that most refugees are living in camps and that the majority are able to return home.

“If you look at the statistics you get depressed. If you look at the people you have hope,” he added.

The Milibands have previously touched upon their familial link with displacement, and the interview featured a clip from a recent TED talk in which David discusses how their relatives died in the second world war. Their father, the academic Ralph Miliband, was a Jewish refugee from Belgium who settled in Britain. Their mother, the human rights and CND campaigner Marion Kozak, survived the Nazi occupation of Poland.

David briefly cut out when describing how a man named Maurice took his grandmother and aunt in, leading Ed to seemingly cut the interview short.

Referring to his brother as “Dave”, Ed finished the 17-minute conversation by saying: “I’ll see you very soon.”