LABOUR leader Ed Miliband last night declared he wanted his brother and South Shields’ MP David in his top team because he is a “massive asset” to their party.

Mr Miliband issued the public appeal after being urged to recall David back from “political Siberia” during a question and answer session at the Labour conference in Liverpool.

A jacketless Labour leader had to ask for the question to be repeated in the large conference hall, and then joked that was down to “selective hearing” and then offered a “sort of thank you” to the member of the public who made the request.

“Look I give you the answer, which is the answer I give because it is the honest answer. Which is David is a massive asset to our politics and our party.

“And I’ve always said I’d be happy to have him back, I want to have him back,” said Ed Miliband. “But in the end he’s got to decide what’s the right thing for him to do.”

The Labour leader appeared to acknowledge tensions between the pair after he narrowly beat his older brother to the party crown in a leadership battle last year.

“It was a difficult leadership contest that we had. It was difficult for us. The reason I stood is because I felt I had something distinctive to say and I said it yesterday [in my conference speech].