Keir Starmer replaces Seumas Milne with new director of communications

Former Labour Strategy and Communications Director Seumas Milne leaves Islington Town Hall following the party's defeat in the 2019 general election. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) - Credit: Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn’s director of communications, Seumas Milne, has left his post within the leader’s office and has been replaced.

Milne, a former Guardian journalist, endorsed Corbyn as Labour leader before becoming Executive Director of Strategy and Communications after the Labour leader was elected in 2015.

He was originally hired on a one-year contract but went on to remain within the leader’s office to oversee two general election defeats.

His appointment was criticised by those within the party who felt that Corbyn could have picked ‘someone whose skills in media management were better known than his personal political views’.

MORE: How Seumas Milne quietly became Labour’s power player


Have your say
Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or digital edition for just £13. You can also join our readers' Facebook group to keep the discussion and debate going with thousands of fellow pro-Europeans.

Milne confirmed over the weekend he was no longer required by new leader Starmer as his contract was tied to Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as leader, and his personal spokesman during the leadership contest, Ben Nunn, has been given the role.

Nunn’s background includes spending three years at MHP Communications, working for Labour’s health team, and working as a political adviser for Starmer when he was the shadow Brexit secretary.

A former Labour staffer told PR Week: ‘This is a really good appointment. Ben is hugely capable, easy to work with and straight with people – there’s a lot to be said in politics for being nice.’