Miliband meets long-lost relative during Moscow visit

Ed Miliband acquainted himself with a long-lost relative yesterday after an appearance on a radio talk show took an unexpected turn.

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary, in Russia to debate global warming, was a guest on a Moscow-based radio show. Prepped to face questions on CO2 emissions, plans were thrown out of kilter when the voice of an elderly woman appeared on the line.

"I am Sofia Davidovna Miliband, I am your relative," the voice said. "I am the only one left." Engineers cut her off fearing she was a hoaxer. But the 86-year-old shared clear bloodlines to Mr Miliband: her grandfather was the brother of his great-great grandfather.

Mr Miliband then went to meet his long-lost relative. He said: "I think she was much less interested in what my brother David or I do, than in making the family connection and realising that there was a branch of the Miliband family in Britain."