'We're with the Miliband': Arctic Monkeys Glasto gig will launch leadership bid

Mr Miliband has made no secret of the fact that the Sheffield quartet are a staple on his ipod, telling music bible NME they were one of the "most innovative acts around".

The Arctic Monkeys, in turn are fans of Mr Miliband, 41, who they believe is the youthful, more human face of the Labour Party.

Singer-guitarist Alex Turner said: "We won't make a big deal of it, he will just come on stage for one song and sing along with the chorus. We don't expect him to do the whole song. We have narrowed it down to a couple of songs, maybe Curtains Close or Settle for a Draw."

"We thought it would be quite cool, you know something different. Festivals can be a bit too serious, you know, and David's pretty cool. I know I shouldn't be saying it, but yesterday he rang me up and asked if he could announce his leadership bid on stage. I said, that's fine by me."

The Arctics will headline the festival on the main Pyramid Stage on 25 June, around a week after Tony Blair is expected to announce he would stand down as prime minister. Mr Miliband met the Arctic Monkeys after a London gig he attended in January. A former drummer himself, Mr Miliband's university band, Foregone Conclusion, would play regularly at social events organised by his Oxford alma mater, Corpus Christi College.

Fresh perspective

The Arctics, who are strong Labour supporters, are unhappy with the direction the party is taking and believe Mr Miliband would provide a fresh perspective to British politics.

Although Mr Miliband's spokesman refused to comment on the proposed Glastonbury slot, a Labour party source said a music festival would be the perfect place to announce his leadership intentions in a bid to appeal to the demographic of disillusioned voters aged between 18 and 34.

"He knows that more people voted in Big Brother than in the last General Election and to appeal to the disaffected, younger voter, he needs to kick off his leadership campaign with a bang," the source said.

A Glastonbury spokesman said the organisers had been told by Arctic Monkeys management that "there would be a special guest" on stage, but Mr Miliband's name had not come up.

"As long as they give us a week's notice so we can get an onstage musician's pass for him, then that would be fine," the spokesman said.

Mr Miliband is not the first politician to namecheck the Arctics; Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said at his party's conference last year that he liked them and that they had "sold more records than the Beatles."

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said yesterday that Mr Miliband would become "a human sacrifice" if he were to stand against Mr Brown who was "head and shoulders" above any other candidate.

However, Mr Miliband, who has in the past played down any potential bid, has been gaining a groundswell of support and has received the backing of former Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

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