Goodbye Seumas Milne, another press officer who became the story

The departure of Labour’s director of strategy and communications is the most significant evidence of the fall of Corbynism within the party, writes John Rentoul

Seumas Milne, left, and Karie Murphy, Jeremy Corbyn's former chief of staff (PA/AFP)

Seumas Milne has now “left his role”. This is momentous news. First, it removes the most commonly misspelt name from frontline British politics. That title will now be taken by Keir Starmer.

The Scottish spelling of the name, more commonly spelt Seamus, is one of the former Labour director of strategy and communications’s distinctive features. The other is his ideology, which is why his departure is a significant mark of the decorbynisation of the party under its new leader.

Milne was always a fierce and articulate exponent of the worldview to which Jeremy Corbyn subscribes. His role, when he was “seconded” from The Guardian to the leader’s office, was to be the iron ideological fist in Corbyn’s velvet glove.