The Miliband 'soap opera' ends with departure: David Miliband to quit politics to work for charity in US David Miliband will announce today that he is quitting politics to take up a senior post with a New York-based charity working on humanitarian crises around the world. The former Foreign Secretary's move will bring down the curtain on what he has called the "daily soap opera" and "psychodrama" starring himself and his younger brother Ed, who narrowly pipped him to the Labour Party leadership in 2010. Mr Miliband is married to the American violinist Louise Shackelton and they adopted two children in the US. David's departure at the age of 47 will bring mixed reactions in Labour circles. Blairites will regret the loss of one of the party's "big beasts." His earnings since leaving government total £985,315 - including travel and accommodation for himself and his staff, according to the most recent Commons register of interests -more than six times his salary as an MP. 1994 Having worked for the Institute of Public Policy Research, David Miliband becomes Tony Blair's head of policy and contributes to Labour's 1997 manifesto. He is nicknamed "brains" by Alastair Campbell. Timeline: The Miliband years 2001 Elected MP for South Shields with 63 per cent of the vote. 2002 Appointed Schools Standards Minister. 2004 Replaces Ruth Kelly as Cabinet Office Minister. 2005 Becomes full member of the cabinet as Minister of State for Communities and Local Government. 2006 A reshuffle sees Mr Miliband replace Margaret Beckett as Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He calls for all 27 EU nations to cut emissions by 30 per cent before 2020. 2007 Just 24 hours after Gordon Brown succeeds Mr Blair as Prime Minister, Mr Miliband becomes the third-youngest Foreign Secretary in Britain's history at 41 years old. 2008 Mr Miliband writes in a newspaper of his vision for Labour, in a move widely seen as a leadership challenge to Mr Brown. 2010 He runs for the party leadership against his brother Ed, Andy Burnham, Ed Balls and Diane Abbott. Despite leading the first three rounds, he loses narrowly to Ed and quits frontline politics. 2013 Resigns as South Shields MP.