London: Ed Miliband, the leader of Britain's Labour Party, has been denied a chance to visit the country's troops in Afghanistan during Christmas, a media report said on Sunday.
The Labour leader has been told he must wait till February 2011 to make the trip, the Daily Mail reported.
Prime Minister David Cameron has made several trips to Iraq and Afghanistan and is expected to go to Afghanistan again before Christmas. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has also visited the country.
The prime minister's office on Saturday night denied that the Cameron had attempted to veto Miliband's request to go to Kabul and talk to British soldiers in Helmand province.
But Ministry of Defence officials said Miliband's aides have made "strong representations" to them, demanding to know why he cannot go sooner.
An earlier report said Miliband was "angry" to be relegated to third place behind Clegg in the wreath-laying ceremony on Remembrance Day, held in memory of the people who died during World War I.
The ministry said it had not tried to block Miliband, adding that visits to war zones by party leaders require long-term planning.
Miliband defeated his brother David in the party elections in September.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, December 05, 2010, 16:26