'Is that the lost Miliband brother?': Labour's Ed Miliband smiles for selfie with Joey Essex

You wouldn't immediately think they'd have a lot in common.

But at the Sun newspaper's Military Awards ceremony in London last night, reality television favourite Joey Essex got friendly with Labour party leader Ed Miliband and persuaded him to pose for a quick selfie.

Essex posted the image on Twitter with the caption: "With my mate @Ed_Miliband at the #Millies #SELFIE".

Miliband, who retweeted the image of the bizarre pairing to his 275,000 followers, faced ridicule from Twitter users.

One wrote; "Which is which?" while another posted; "Is he the lost Miliband brother then?"

The image follows Prime Minister David Cameron and US President's Barack Obama's controversial selfie at a memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela on Tuesday.

The politicians posed for the picture with Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt, who is married to Lord Kinnock's son Stephen.

The PM defended the photo to MPs in Westminster yesterday, saying: "When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes."