In his first interview since voluntarily leaving the Cabinet, Alan Milburn tells political editor Chris Lloyd why he thinks he'll never be able to go back.

ALAN Milburn last night effectively ruled out ever returning to the Cabinet.

In his first interview since successfully co-ordinating the campaign that won Labour a historic third term, the Darlington MP said: "I probably do rule out going back.

"I've walked away from it twice. That's fairly unique. You don't get the opportunity to walk away even once - usually you are kicked out - so I would be pushing my luck.

"You can never say 100 per cent, but I don't really see it. It is certainly not in my game plan at all."

Mr Milburn resigned as Health Secretary in July 2003 in order to spend more time with his family. He surprised many by returning to the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster just 15 months later to prepare and then co-ordinate Labour's election campaign.

But, on election night, having increased his own majority in Darlington and helped secure Tony Blair's 66 seat majority in the Commons, he announced that he would not be returning to the Cabinet.

"When I came back last September, I was pretty clear with the PM that I would do the job as a favour to him and out of loyalty to the party, but I viewed it as temporary rather than permanent," he said.

Mr Blair, his neighbour in the Sedgefield constituency, had discussed the possibility of a full-time return without offering a specific post.

"Politics now is a frenzied occupation," said Mr Milburn.

"I had a frenzied eight months and it reminded me of the reasons that I walked away in the first place.

"You can only do politics to the exclusion of all else in your life - I freely admit that that might be because I have an obsessive personality type.

"But I had made a choice, and that choice was to have a life. I had had a taste of what life could be like without it and the taste lingered on my tongue despite eight months of gruelling effort."

Mr Milburn lives near Hexham with his partner Ruth and two sons Joe and Danny.

"Joe's now coming up to 14," said their dad. "In three or four years' time, he will have flown the nest, and that's it. I've got three or four years with him. Every year of his life I've been away, and it's the same with Danny as well."

Mr Milburn, 47, says that he has never had a career plan, but he does intend to disappear quietly onto the backbenches.

During his last period out of Government, he kept his name alive with a series of high-profile speeches and well-placed articles. He appeared then to act as Mr Blair's out-rider, and he will continue to press the New Labour cause - whoever the next leader of the party might be.

"The question that should arise from the election is if the circumstances were so propitious why didn't either the Conservatives or the Liberals make greater headway?" he said.

"The Liberals only gained 11 seats; the Conservatives are still stuck in the doldrums and can't break out of their core vote. Why? Answer: New Labour has managed to populate so much of the sensible centre mainstream ground of British politics.

"Look at where the marginal seats now are with majorities of under 1,000. They are all middle-class, Middle England and mainly in the South.

"Anyone who thinks that walking away from New Labour will help us retain those seats is frankly living in cloud cuckoo land.

"I want to see us going up a prong on New Labour, of keeping the accent on giving people a fair chance in life, giving them the opportunity to get on, making sure the chances that some people have always had are there for everyone."