LONDON

GREETING guests in his office beside the Thames, a short stroll from the House of Commons, Ed Miliband plunges into an improbable topic for a British politician: the Boston Red Sox, their current battle with the Yankees at the top of the standings and happy days, stretching back to his boyhood as the son of a visiting professor, spent high in the bleachers at Fenway Park.

“Baseball is definitely high on the list” of things he admires about America, Mr. Miliband, the Labour Party leader, said, along with “the sense of optimism and the sense of possibility.” Beyond those, he said, there is the sense of America being less of a “closed society,” and “less of a class-bound country,” as well as a tradition among American politicians and reporters of keeping “a bit more distance” from each other than is common in the cozy world of Westminster.

“I’ve always felt my home is in Britain, but I love being in America,” Mr. Miliband said.

It is rare for a British politician, particularly one with roots in the traditional, leftist wing of the Labour Party like Mr. Miliband, to speak with such unguarded enthusiasm of the United States, particularly in ways that make for unflattering comparisons with Britain. But it is the House of Commons’ summer recess, the end of the first parliamentary term since Mr. Miliband was elected leader of the Labour Party last fall, and his admiration for American civics is more than a graceful nod to American visitors. At least for now, it is a measure of a new spirit engendered by the turmoil over what seems to have been a wave of criminality in British tabloid newsrooms, the biggest scandal of its kind to hit Britain in 50 years.

The uproar over The News of the World and its ramifications for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, as well as for rival newspapers that have been implicated in the phone hacking and other abuses, have changed much in Britain. The scandal has also raised difficult, career-threatening questions for Prime Minister David Cameron and has led to a stunning reversal in fortunes for the 41-year-old Mr. Miliband, who as recently as last spring appeared to be sinking fast as Labour’s new helmsman.