Seumas Milne
| Seumas Milne link Twitter (Spin doctor, journalist) | |
|---|---|
| File:Seumas Milne.png | |
| Born | Seumas Patrick Charles Milne 1958-09-05 Dover, Kent, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Oxford University/Balliol College, Birkbeck, University of London |
| Parents | Alasdair Milne |
| Children | 2 |
| Spouse | Cristina Montanari |
| Party | Labour |
| Relatives | Kirsty Milne |
UK spin doctor journalist | |
Seumas Milne is a British journalist and political aide. In October 2015 he was appointed the Labour Party's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications, on leave from The Guardian.[1][2]
Milne joined the newspaper in 1984.[3] He was a columnist and associate editor at The Guardian at the time of his Labour Party appointment, and according to Peter Popham writing for The Independent in 1997, "is on the far left of the Labour Party".[4][5][6] He is the author of The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners, a book about the 1984–5 British miners' strike which focuses on the role of MI5 and Special Branch in the dispute.[7][8]
Milne's journalism and Labour Party appointment were the subject of much negative media comment in October 2015. Peter Preston, Milne's former editor at The Guardian, commented on the ethical challenges faced by journalists-turned-political advisers and concluded about Milne's change of career path:
- "Houston, we have a challenge: let’s see if we have a problem."
On 4 April 2020, following the election of Sir Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party, Seumas Milne was replaced as Labour's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications by Ben Nunn, a former lobbyist with private healthcare PR firm MHP Communications.[9]
References
- ↑ "Guardian journalist Seumas Milne appointed Labour head of communications"
- ↑ "Seumas Milne appointed Labour’s Executive Director of Strategy and Communications"
- ↑ "Milne, Seumas"
- ↑ "Media families 7. The Milnes"
- ↑ "My top five Leftie columnists"
- ↑ "In the air"
- ↑ Christopher Andrew The Defence of the Realm, 2009, London: Allen Lane, p.677, and footnote 49, p.968
- ↑ "Guardian Comment is Free, page for Seumas Milne"
- ↑ "Keir Starmer replaces Seumas Milne with new director of communications"