Labour leader Ed Miliband announces wedding

Labour leader Ed Miliband will marry his long-term partner Justine Thornton on May 27, it was announced today.

The couple already have two children together, 21-month-old Daniel and 4-month-old Samuel. They confirmed the date in an interview with their local newspaper, the Doncaster Free Press.

Miliband revealed that he had proposed to Thornton on Primrose Hill last year. He told the paper that it is "the right time" for them to tie the knot, in what he said will be a "small ceremony" at Nottingham's Langar Hall hotel.

"This is going to be a fantastic day for us both and I feel incredibly privileged to be marrying someone so beautiful and who is such a special person," he said. "It's the right time for us to do this and I'm really looking forward to a lovely day. We're going to have a party in Doncaster when we get back from honeymoon - which will be in an undisclosed location."

He continued: "At the end of the day we're in our 40s and we've got two kids - so it wasn't a case of me suddenly popping the question. This is just something we think is right for us."

Ed, who served as his brother David's best man at his wedding in 1998, confirmed that there will not be a best man or bridesmaids at the upcoming nuptials. However, he went on to say that David was "the person I told after my mother".

Thornton added: "Ed wasn't even an MP when I met him and at the end of the day I am marrying him because of who he is and not because of what he's doing now."

Fern Britton recently revealed that she would like to interview Ed because she believes people don't "really know who he is".

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