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Seumas Milne

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Seumas Patrick Charles Milne (born 5 September 1958)[1] is a British journalist and political aide. He was appointed as the Labour Party's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications in October 2015 under Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, initially on leave from The Guardian.[2][3] In January 2017, he left The Guardian in order to work for the party full-time.[4] He left the role upon Corbyn's departure as leader in April 2020.[5]

Seumas Milne
Executive Director of Strategy & Communications for the Labour Party
In office
26 October 2015 – 4 April 2020
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byBob Roberts
Succeeded byBen Nunn
Personal details
Born
Seumas Patrick Charles Milne

(1958-09-05) 5 September 1958 (age 66)
Dover, Kent, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Cristina Montanari
​
(m. 1992)​
RelationsKirsty Milne (sister)
Children2
ParentAlasdair Milne (father)
EducationWinchester College, Hampshire
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
Birkbeck, University of London
OccupationPolitical aide, journalist and writer

Milne joined The Guardian in 1984.[6] He was a columnist and associate editor there at the time of his Labour Party appointment, and according to Peter Popham writing for The Independent in 1997, was "on the far left of the Labour Party."[7][8][9] Milne is the author of The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners, a book about the 1984–85 British miners' strike which focuses on the role of MI5 and Special Branch in the dispute.[10][11]

Early life

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Born in Dover, Milne is the younger son of Alasdair Milne (1930–2013), Director-General of the BBC from 1982 to 1987, and his wife Sheila Kirsten, née Graucob, who was of Irish and Danish ancestry.[12][13][14]

Education

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Milne was educated at Tormore School, a boys' independent preparatory school in Deal, Kent, followed by Winchester College,[1] a public school in Hampshire. In 1974, he stood in a mock election at Winchester as a Maoist Party candidate.[15]

Following Winchester, Milne attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, politics and economics, and Birkbeck, University of London, where he read Economics. While at Balliol, Milne was so committed to the Palestinian cause that he spoke with a Palestinian accent and called himself Shams (Arabic for "sun").[16] His sister Kirsty Milne, who died in July 2013, was an academic who had previously been a journalist.[17]

After graduating from Oxford University, Milne became the business manager of Straight Left, a monthly publication that began in 1979, which, according to Standpoint magazine, was produced by a pro-Soviet faction in the Communist Party of Great Britain, and included several left-wing Labour MPs with pro-Soviet bloc sympathies on its editorial board.[18][19] During his time at Straight Left Milne became friends with Andrew Murray, who much later again became a colleague of Milne in the Labour Party.[20] Milne himself was not a Communist Party member.[18]

Career

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Journalism

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Milne worked as a staff journalist at The Economist from 1981 but was not content working for a free-market newspaper, later describing it as "the Pravda of the neoliberal ascendancy."[21] In 1984, he joined The Guardian on the recommendation of Andrew Knight, The Economist's then editor.[6][22] Milne's early responsibilities for The Guardian included posts as news reporter, Labour Correspondent (by 1994),[23] and Labour Editor. In 1994, Milne's colleague Richard Gott resigned from The Guardian following an article in The Spectator that alleged Gott had connections to the KGB and was a Soviet agent of influence—charges that Gott vociferously denied. Milne defended Gott against these allegations, which he thought "seemed absurd", and claimed the journalists who had written the expose of his friend were connected to MI5.[23][24]

Milne was Comment Editor for six years from 2001 to 2007.[19] According to Peter Wilby in an April 2016 New Statesman profile of Milne, his most controversial decision among The Guardian staff was to print a 2004 article by Osama bin Laden, assembled from recordings of one of his speeches. While almost all thought it should have been published, a small majority thought it should not have been run as a comment piece, although the Readers' Editor later defended this decision.[14]

Milne's period in this role was described by Naomi Klein in her book The Shock Doctrine as having turned The Guardian's comment section into a "truly global debating forum."[25] Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan asserted that Milne's greatest achievement "was to take full advantage of the expansion of The Guardian's comment pages ... making them the most thought-provoking opinion section in Britain."[8] Hannan also praised him as "a sincere, eloquent and uncomplicated Marxist."[8] Following changes in staff responsibilities, he was succeeded as comment editor by Georgina Henry,[26] with Toby Manhire as her deputy.[27] Milne was moved to his role as associate editor in 2007, according to Peter Wilby because he was building up too many writers in his own image, and devoting too much space to Palestine.[14]

Milne has reported for The Guardian from the Middle East, Latin America, Russia, Eastern Europe and South Asia,[28] and has also written for Le Monde diplomatique[29] and the London Review of Books.[30] He is reported to have lobbied within The Guardian in 2015 for editor-in-chief Katharine Viner to succeed Alan Rusbridger in the post.[31]

Milne served on the executive committee of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for ten years,[7][28] and is a former chairman of the joint Guardian–Observer NUJ chapter. In the 1980s, he chaired the Hammersmith Constituency Labour Party when Clive Soley (now Lord Soley) was the constituency's MP.[32] Milne told a 2015 May Day rally in Glasgow: "Resistance and the unity of the working class is what will progress our movement."[32]

In October 2015, Kate Godfrey, who has worked as an aid worker in conflict zones such as Libya and Syria,[33] described Milne as "an apologist for terror" in The Daily Telegraph, adding: "I think that he never met a truth he didn't dismiss as an orthodoxy and that nowhere in his far-Left polemic are actual people represented."[34] The attacks on Milne struck James Kirkup in the same publication nearly a year later as being "a little silly, since part of the point of this columnising lark is to say things that get attention and provoke argument: by that measure, he was pretty good at the job."[35]

Labour's Director of Communications

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In August 2015, Milne endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. In The Guardian, he wrote "the claim that the other leadership candidates – steeped as they are in the triangulating 'pro-business' politics of the 1990s – can offer a winning electoral alternative to Corbyn's commitment to what are in fact mostly mainstream public views, looks increasingly implausible. ... But for now the Corbyn movement offers the chance of a break with a disastrous austerity regime – and for a real democratic opening."[36][37]

Appointment

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On 20 October 2015, it was announced that Milne had been appointed to the team around Corbyn, elected party leader the previous month, as the Labour Party's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications. Reportedly on a one-year contract,[38] he was originally "on leave" from his post at The Guardian and assumed his new role on 26 October.[3][39] Milne's friend George Galloway tweeted "Just what the doctor ordered" in response to the news.[40][41] In a soon-deleted tweet, Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore expressed her dislike of "public school leftists" in reference to the news of Milne's new role[23] and speculated that his appointment meant goodbye to Labour.[42]

According to Tom Harris, a former Scottish Labour MP writing for The Daily Telegraph, Corbyn could have chosen for the Comms post "someone whose skills in media management were better known than his personal political views. Instead he chose Seumas Milne, a hate figure for the right of the Labour Party and pretty much everyone else to the right of that."[43] Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Mandelson told the BBC that Corbyn had shown a lack of professionalism in appointing Milne, "whom I happen to know and like as it happens. But he's completely unsuited to such a job, he has little connection with mainstream politics or mainstream media in this country."[44][45]

John Jewell, an academic at Cardiff School of Journalism, criticised the articles by Harris and others which mention Milne's response to the murder of Lee Rigby. Jewell observes that "the article in which Milne wrote of Rigby not being a victim of terrorism 'in the normal sense' began with these words: 'The videoed butchery of Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich barracks last May was a horrific act and his killers' murder conviction a foregone conclusion.'"[46]

In October 2015, Patrick Wintour, the political editor of The Guardian, wrote that Corbyn "has been struggling to ensure he receives an effective press since he became party leader, and Milne will be charged with ensuring there is an improvement."[2] In July 2016, Peter Preston, Milne's first Guardian editor, commented about the ethical challenges faced by journalists-turned-political advisers shortly after Milne's appointment: "The 'on leave' tag appears to make Seumas a once and continuing Guardian man, which won't help relations with journalists from elsewhere."[22] According to Alex Spence, Milne has demonstrated a low opinion of much of the British press in his comments.[47] Milne left The Guardian's staff in January 2017, when it became known he was working permanently for Corbyn.[4]

In a July 2016 Guardian column, Owen Jones defended Milne as "a deeply insightful and thoroughly decent man who has been wronged by his media portrayal as a soulless Stalinist apparatchik."[48]

January 2016 shadow cabinet reshuffle

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In early October 2015, a few weeks before his appointment was announced, Milne was interviewed by the Russian government-funded RT television network[49] while the Labour Party conference was in progress.[50] He said that Corbyn's initial front bench constituted a "stabilisation shadow cabinet" and was of the opinion that current Labour MPs were "not only far to the right of most Labour party members, but actually it's to the right of public opinion."[51] Milne commented that reselection in this parliament, necessitated by a reduction in the number of members of parliament due to planned constituency boundary changes, could be used for a "recalibration" of the parliamentary party.[50][51][52][53] In response to Milne's comments on RT, Corbyn's spokesman said in October 2015 that the Labour leader "has been crystal clear he does not support changes to Labour's rules to make it easier to deselect sitting Labour MPs."[51]

While the January 2016 reshuffle of Labour's frontbench was in progress, then-Labour MP Ian Austin said that Milne's actions had been "an absolute disgrace" over the previous few weeks. According to Austin, "people in the leader's office, I'm told by journalists, Seumas Milne, telling us that Hilary Benn was going to be sacked, that Michael Dugher was going to be sacked, a whole long list of people, not for questions of competence or loyalty but because they voted a different way on a free vote."[54][55] Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of The Spectator, cast doubt on this interpretation when speaking on This Week, giving credence to a view that it was other people who claim to be close to Corbyn who were briefing journalists.[56] While Dugher was sacked by Corbyn from his post as Shadow Culture Secretary, Benn survived as Shadow Foreign Secretary.[57]

Milne made an official complaint to the BBC about the 6 January on-air announcement on the Daily Politics programme by Stephen Doughty that he had resigned as a shadow Foreign Office minister. In a letter to Robbie Gibb, the BBC's head of live political programmes, Milne objected to the BBC following a "particular political narrative." Gibb responded that the programme had merely observed the convention of the BBC, and other media outlets, in breaking news stories.[58] On 21 January 2016, Milne was reported by Andrew Grice of The Independent to be aligned with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell in a power struggle between two factions in Corbyn's team.[59]

June 2016 Vice News documentary

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A Fly on the wall documentary about the Corbyn-led Labour Party, produced by Vice News, became available online at the beginning of June 2016. Milne was featured asserting that Corbyn's line of attack as Leader of the Opposition for Prime Minister's Questions was leaked to the Conservative government. In a recorded aside, Milne said that it happened "a third of the time", giving then-prime minister David Cameron "an advantage."[60][61] Labour's General Secretary Iain McNicol emailed party staff to acknowledge that they might be "upset" by Milne's comments and to reassure them that their work was appreciated.[62]

Brexit campaign and the Labour leadership crisis

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Following the unexpected victory of the "Leave" campaign in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Milne's role as Labour strategist came under scrutiny within the party. Internal emails passed to BBC News were alleged by Labour "Remainers" to show Milne minimizing party leader Corbyn's role in the Remain campaign.[63] Following more than sixty front-bench resignations, and a vote of no confidence with 80% of Labour MPs supporting the motion against Corbyn, Milne was accused by the Labour Party's former strategist John McTernan in the London Evening Standard of talking Corbyn out of resigning.[64] According to Robert Peston, other sources have disputed this claim.[65]

Later developments and replacement

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According to Peter Wilby, writing in the New Statesman in March 2018, Milne as Corbyn's spin doctor[66] "has proved rather good at it. Most lobby journalists, initially hostile, now respect and even like him, finding his calm, courteous and expletive-free manner a refreshing change from many of his recent counterparts." Wilby writes that Milne is the closest of the leader's team to Corbyn, after John McDonnell.[20] Milne was replaced in April 2020,[67] following the resignation of Corbyn and the election of Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party,[68] which John Rentoul of The Independent saw as "the most significant evidence of the fall of Corbynism within the party."[69]

Views

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Communism

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Milne has attacked what he calls "the creeping historical revisionism that tries to equate Nazism and communism."[70] In 2002, he wrote that the victims of Nazism "in the distorted prism of the new history ... are somehow lost from the equation. At the same time, the number of victims of Stalin's terror has been progressively inflated over recent years." He argues there is a tendency to "relativise the unique crimes of Nazism, bury those of colonialism and feed the idea that any attempt at radical social change will always lead to suffering, killing and failure."[71] He has written that crimes of communist states "are now so well rehearsed that they are in danger of obliterating any understanding of its achievements, both of which have lessons for the future of progressive politics and the search for a social alternative to globalised capitalism."[72]

In a 2006 Guardian article, Milne argued: "For all its brutalities and failures, communism in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe and elsewhere delivered rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality. It encompassed genuine idealism and commitment ... Its existence helped to drive up welfare standards in the west, boosted the anticolonial movement and provided a powerful counterweight to western global domination."[73] In an October 2012 interview with The Quietus, Milne commented: "Whatever people thought about the Soviet Union and its allies and what was going on in those countries, there was a sense throughout the twentieth century that there were alternatives – socialist political alternatives."[74] His statements were criticised by Rachel Sylvester for The Times.[75] In the same 2006 Guardian article, Milne criticised the Council of Europe and others for adopting "as fact the wildest estimates of those 'killed by communist regimes.'"[73] He has argued that the "number of victims of Stalin's terror" remains "a focus of huge academic controversy",[71] adding that "the real records of repression now available from the Soviet archives are horrific enough (799,455 people were recorded as executed between 1921 and 1953 and the labour camp population reached 2.5 million at its peak) without engaging in an ideologically-fuelled inflation game."[73]

Milne contributed a foreword to Stasi State or Socialist Paradise (2015), a book by John Green and Bruni de la Motte about East Germany. In the Germany of Angela Merkel, the denunciation of the former state has become a "loyalty test for modern Germans." Milne asserted that the former communist state delivered "social and women's equality well ahead of its times, and greater freedom in the workplace than most employees enjoy in today's Germany."[76] In 2009, Milne told George Galloway on the latter's The Mother of All Talk Shows, at that time broadcast on Talksport, that "East Berlin was absolutely at the front line of the cold war. That's what the Berlin Wall was. It was a front line between two social and military systems and two military alliances, and a very tense one at that. It wasn't just some kind of arbitrary division to hold people in, it was also a front line in a global conflict."[77]

War on terror, Iraq wars, and the response

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Afghanistan and Iraq wars

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Milne has been a vocal critic of the war on terror,[78] the wars in Afghanistan,[79] and the Iraq War.[80] In 2001, he argued that war in Afghanistan would fail to "stamp out anti-western terrorism", and if the United States invaded Iraq, "it risks a catastrophe."[81] In relation to Iraq, Milne argued in March 2008: "Given that the invasion of Iraq was regarded as illegal by the majority of the UN security council, its secretary general, and the overwhelming weight of international legal opinion, it must by the same token be seen as a war crime: what the Nuremberg tribunal deemed the 'supreme international crime' of aggression. If it weren't for the fact that there is not the remotest prospect of any mechanism to apply international law to powerful states, Bush and Blair would be in the dock at The Hague."[80]

According to Milne in July 2004, "the anti-occupation guerrillas" were "a classic resistance movement with widespread support waging an increasingly successful guerrilla war against the occupying armies."[82][83] In October 2009, he argued for a "negotiated withdrawal" from Afghanistan based on a "political settlement, including the Taliban and regional powers."[79] In a speech at a Stop the War Coalition rally on 4 October 2014, the day after Alan Henning is thought to have been beheaded, Milne said that "the horrific killing of the hostage Alan Henning in revenge for the British decision to bomb Iraq is a reminder, if any were needed, that another war in Iraq or Syria won't stop terror."[84] He also said that "[t]he group that calls itself Islamic State is the ultimate blowback from the invasion of Iraq",[55] calling it "the Frankenstein product of the War on Terror."[84]

Motivations of al-Qaeda

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Milne argued following the 7 July 2005 London bombings that it was "an insult to the dead" and a "piece of disinformation long peddled by champions of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan" to claim that al-Qaeda and its followers were motivated by "a hatred of western freedoms and way of life" and "that their Islamist ideology aims at global domination", rather than "the withdrawal of US and other western forces from the Arab and Muslim world" and an end to support for Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and despotic regimes in the region.[85] Victor J. Seidler, a Professor of Social Theory from the University of London, argued in relation to Milne's article that we have to be careful "not to dismiss an Islamist rejection of the freedoms of Western urban cultures, in relation to consumerism and sexualities."[86] Seidler argued that, contrary to Milne's claims, they were at least partly motivated by "Islamist religious doctrine."[87]

Writing about Milne's articles on Muslim extremism, Andrew Anthony asserted that "whereas Milne can instantly detect the relationship between far right rhetoric and the recent murder of Ahmed Hassan, a Muslim teenager in Dewsbury, he dismisses the idea that such hatred as was captured in the Dispatches programme "Undercover Mosque" [in 2007] might contribute to the kind of mentality that resulted in the carnage of the July 2005 bombs and the many terror plots that the authorities have successfully prevented."[88]

Gaza Wars

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In the aftermath of the Gaza War (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009), also known as Operation Cast Lead, Milne cited allegations of Israeli war crimes in arguing thus: "With such powerful evidence of violations of the rules of war now emerging from the rubble of Gaza, the test must be this: is the developing system of international accountability for war crimes only going to apply to the west's enemies – or can the western powers and their closest allies also be brought to book?"[89] In a speech on 9 August 2014 at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration against the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict,[90][91] he said that "Israel has no right to defend itself from territories it illegally occupies. It only has an obligation to withdraw." He went on to say that "the Palestinians are an occupied people. They have the right to resist. They have the right to defend themselves from the occupier. It's not terrorism to fight back. The terrorism is the killing of citizens by Israel on an industrial scale that we have seen in the last month."[92][39][93]

On Vladimir Putin and Russia

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Along with the journalist John Pilger and Andrew Murray, by now involved in Stop the War Coalition. He attended the Valdai Discussion Club conference in Sochi, where he conducted a discussion in 2014 with Putin and former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin, opening a session there entitled "New Rules or No Rules in the Global Order",[94] and his expenses were paid for by the organisers of the event.[14]

On the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, Milne wrote that "western aggression and lawless killing is on another scale entirely from anything Russia appears to have contemplated, let alone carried out – removing any credible basis for the US and its allies to rail against Russian transgressions",[95] and has described the annexation as "clearly defensive",[96] asserting that "the crisis in Ukraine is a product of the disastrous Versailles-style break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s."[95] Oliver Bullough, a journalist who formerly lived in Russia, disagreed with this view, asserting that "the destruction of the USSR was not some Versailles-style treaty imposed from outside. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus did it themselves."[97] Cross-checking with the leak of 4,000 Russian emails, believed to originate from Putin's senior adviser Vladislav Surkov, the Conservative MP Bob Seely, and the Ukrainian specialist Alya Shandra, have found that several of Milne's articles on the Russo-Ukrainian War appear to parallel the Kremlin's agenda at the time.[98] Bullough questioned Milne's view of Russia in general, explaining he had lived in Russia for six years, and had visited almost all the former Soviet bloc, adding that "when I read what Milne writes about it, I slip into a parallel universe."[97]

In October 2015, Brian Whitaker, former Middle East editor for The Guardian, asserted that Milne "views international politics almost entirely through an anti-imperialist lens. That, in turn, leads to a sympathetic view of those dictatorial regimes which characterise themselves as anti-imperialist. It's the same with Islamist movements where they oppose western-backed regimes (Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia) though not necessarily in other cases such as Syria."[99]

In October 2016, while serving as Corbyn's press spokesman, Milne said in response to protests outside the Russian embassy in London that the "focus on Russian atrocities or Syrian army atrocities I think sometimes diverts attention from other atrocities that are taking place."[100]

Personal life

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Milne married Cristina Montanari, an Italian-born director of an advertising firm, in 1992. The couple have two now-adult children, a son and daughter, who were educated at selective grammar schools in Kingston upon Thames.[31][42] In about 2013, Milne had a lung tumour removed.[31]

Publications

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  • Beyond the Casino Economy. With Nicholas Costello and Jonathan Michie. 1989. Verso Books. ISBN 0-86091-967-6.
  • The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners. 1994, 1995, 2004, 2014. Verso Books/Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-86091-461-5.
  • The Revenge of History: The Battle for the Twenty First Century. 2012, 2013. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-7816-8091-9.

References

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  1. ^ a b Winchester College: A Register. Edited by P.S.W.K. McClure and R.P. Stevens, on behalf of the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester College. 7th edition, 2014. pp. 582 (Short Half 1971 list heading) & 588 (entry for Seamus Milne). Published by Winchester College, Hampshire.
  2. ^ a b Wintour, Patrick (20 October 2015). "Guardian journalist Seumas Milne appointed Labour head of communications". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Seumas Milne appointed Labour's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications". LabourPress: Labour Party press office. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b Stewart, Heather (19 January 2017). "Seumas Milne quits Guardian for permanent Labour party position". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  5. ^ Syal, Rajeev (3 April 2020). "Keir Starmer poised to be announced new Labour leader". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Milne, Seumas". Writer's Directory. 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  7. ^ a b Popham, Peter (31 March 1997). "Media families 7. The Milnes". The Independent.
  8. ^ a b c Hannan, Daniel (10 July 2008). "My top five Leftie columnists". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012.
  9. ^ "In the air". London Evening Standard. 16 August 2006.
  10. ^ Andrew, Christopher (2009). The Defence of the Realm. London: Allen Lane. p. 677. n. 49, p. 968
  11. ^ "Seumas Milne". The Guardian.
  12. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Alasdair Milne". The Daily Telegraph. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d Wilby, Peter (16 April 2016). "The Thin Controller". New Statesman. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  15. ^ Wilkinson, Michael (8 March 2016). "Revealed: Jeremy Corbyn's top aide Seumas Milne backed Chinese communist dictator Chairman Mao during his elite boarding school days". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  16. ^ "Cummings and Milne, rival advisers bent on disrupting British politics". The Economist. 29 September 2019. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  17. ^ Iain Martin "Obituary: Kirsty Milne, journalist and academic", The Scotsman, 16 July 2013
  18. ^ a b Mosbacher, Michael (December 2015). "The Stalinist Past of Corbyn's Strategist". Standpoint. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  19. ^ a b Mosbacher, Michael (September 2011). "Overrated: Seumas Milne". Standpoint.
  20. ^ a b Eaton, George; Wilby, Peter; Bush, Stephen; Maguire, Kevin; Chakelian, Anoosh (5 March 2018). "The meaning of Corbynism". New Statesman. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  21. ^ Milne, Seumas (22 October 2008). "Not the death of capitalism, but the birth of a new order". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  22. ^ a b Preston, Peter (25 October 2015). "A media move like this needn't burst Seumas Milne's bubble". The Observer. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  23. ^ a b c Wickham, Alex (23 March 2016). "Has Jeremy Corbyn's spin doctor Seumas Milne gone rogue?". GQ. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  24. ^ The "seemed absurd" quote appears in Milne, Seumas (2004). The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners. London; New York: Verso. p. 383. ISBN 9781844675081.
  25. ^ Klein, Naomi (2007). The Shock Doctrine. London: Penguin. p. 530.
  26. ^ Brook, Stephen (13 March 2007). "Staff shuffle for Guardian comment". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  27. ^ "Guardian hires new comment editor". Press Gazette. 17 May 2007. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  28. ^ a b "Full profile". The Guardian. 3 June 2007. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021.
  29. ^ "Seumas Milne". Le Monde diplomatique. 2009.
  30. ^ Milne, Seumas (5 June 1997). "After the May Day flood". London Review of Books. 19 (11).
  31. ^ a b c Edwardes, Charlotte (2 December 2015). "Seumas Milne: Labour spin doctor, political firebrand and Jeremy Corbyn's guardian angel". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  32. ^ a b Pickard, Jim (14 January 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn's strategist Seumas Milne in the eye of Labour storm". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  33. ^ Godfrey, Kate (21 October 2015). "So Jeremy Corbyn, what made you appoint Seumas Milne, an apologist for murderous dictators?". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  34. ^ Godfrey, Kate (23 October 2016). "Seumas Milne will finish Labour off". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  35. ^ Kirkup, James (28 September 2016). "In defence of Seumas Milne: blame Jeremy Corbyn for Labour's poison, not his creatures". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  36. ^ Milne, Seumas (20 August 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's surge can be at the heart of a winning coalition". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  37. ^ "The thin controller". New Statesman. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  38. ^ Rigby, Elizabeth; Savage, Michael (12 February 2016). "Guardian presses writer to quit over his link to Corbyn". The Times. Retrieved 12 February 2016. (subscription required)
  39. ^ a b McCann, Kate (20 October 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn appoints top advisor who once defended terrorism". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  40. ^ Patrikarakos, David (25 October 2015). "Corbyn's new Stalinist voice". Politico Europe. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  41. ^ Galloway has said that Milne is his "closest friend. We have spoken almost daily for 30 years". See Long, Camilla (22 November 2015). "With friends like these..." The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2016. (subscription required)
  42. ^ a b Rayner, Gordon (23 October 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's millionaire spin doctor Seumas Milne sent his children to top grammar schools". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 October 2015.[dead link‍]
  43. ^ Harris, Tom (21 October 2015). "By hiring Seumas Milne, Jeremy Corbyn shows his utter contempt for real Labour voters". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  44. ^ Watt, Nicholas (24 October 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn criticised over appointment of Labour's new press chief". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  45. ^ Pickard, Jim (23 October 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn faces Labour MP anger over communications chief". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  46. ^ Jewell, John (23 October 2015). "In a spin: why Seumas Milne is the wrong spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn". The Conversation. Retrieved 23 October 2015. See also Milne, Seumas (20 December 2013). "Woolwich attack: If the whole world's a battlefield, that holds in Woolwich as well as Waziristan". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  47. ^ Spence, Alex (4 December 2015). "Corbyn and Milne, the demon duo of Fleet Street". Politico. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  48. ^ Jones, Owen (14 July 2016). "Labour's right are a shambles – but Corbyn has questions to answer too". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  49. ^ Putin (11 June 2013). Visit to Russia Today television channel (Television production). Moscow: Kremlin.ru. Retrieved 24 May 2018. Certainly the channel is funded by the government, so it cannot help but reflect the Russian government's official position on the events in our country and in the rest of the world one way or another. But I'd like to underline again that we never intended this channel, RT, as any kind of apologetics for the Russian political line, whether domestic or foreign.
  50. ^ a b Watt, Nicholas (25 October 2015). "MPs who regularly defy Labour whip should face reselection, says Livingstone". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  51. ^ a b c Savage, Michael (22 October 2015). "Corbyn's Stalinist recruit plans purge of moderates". The Times. London. Retrieved 9 January 2016. (subscription required)
  52. ^ Milne expressed similar opinions earlier. See Milne, Seumas (20 May 2009). "Purge the professionals and let party democracy breathe". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  53. ^ Judah, Ben. "Putin never dreamt of such a useful idiot at the heart of Westminster". The Sunday Times. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link) (subscription required)
  54. ^ Stone, Jon (6 January 2016). "Conduct of Jeremy Corbyn's aide Seumas Milne 'an absolute disgrace' says Labour MP Ian Austin". The Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  55. ^ a b Kennedy, Dominic (23 January 2016). "Corbyn's band of luvvies and liabilities". The Times. Retrieved 23 January 2016. (subscription required)
  56. ^ Andrew Neil, Isabel Hardman (7 January 2016). This Week. BBC. Event occurs at 29m04s. Retrieved 9 January 2016. Andrew Neil: Were Corbyn's people briefing that Benn was for the chop? Isabel Hardman: They have been insisting that they haven't been doing that, and it might have been other people who claim to be close to the leader, but it is not his media team personally.
  57. ^ Pickard, Jim (5 January 2016). "Corbyn dallies on reshuffle in 'night of blunt knives'". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  58. ^ Watt, Nicholas; Sweney, Mark (8 January 2016). "BBC justifies decision to allow Stephen Doughty to resign live on Daily Politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  59. ^ Grice, Andrew (21 January 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn acts as peacemaker between rival Labour factions after Neale Coleman quits". The Independent. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  60. ^ Devlin, Kate (1 June 2016). "Unions demand meeting with Labour's General Secretary over 'mole' claims". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  61. ^ May, Josh (1 June 2016). "Labour aide Seumas Milne claims there is a mole in Jeremy Corbyn's office". Politics Home. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  62. ^ Waugh, Paul (1 June 2016). "Labour Staff 'Upset' At Vice News Jeremy Corbyn Documentary Over Accusations of Leaks To Tories". HuffPost. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  63. ^ Kuenssberg, Laura (26 June 2016). "Corbyn office 'sabotaged' EU remain campaign – sources". BBC News. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  64. ^ McTernan, John (30 June 2016). "The cult of Jeremy Corbyn: The making of a modern sect". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  65. ^ Peston, Robert (30 June 2016). "Last push by Labour MPs to persuade Corbyn to quit". ITV News. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  66. ^ Wickham, Alex (March 2018). "Has Jeremy Corbyn's spin doctor Seumas Milne gone rogue?". Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  67. ^ Read, Jonathon (7 April 2020). "Keir Starmer replaces Seumas Milne with new director of communications". The New European. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  68. ^ Hughes, Laura; Parker, George; Pickard, Jim (9 April 2020). "Starmer alarms Corbyn supporters with Blairite appointments". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  69. ^ Rentoul, John (7 April 2020). "Goodbye Seumas Milne, another press officer who became the story". The Independent. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  70. ^ Milne, Seumas (9 September 2009). "This rewriting of history is spreading Europe's poison". The Guardian.
  71. ^ a b Milne, Seumas (12 September 2002). "The battle for history". The Guardian.
  72. ^ Milne, Seumas (12 May 2007). "Movement of the people". The Guardian.
  73. ^ a b c Milne, Seumas (16 February 2006). "Communism may be dead, but clearly not dead enough". The Guardian.
  74. ^ Kennedy, Joe; Milne, Seumas (21 October 2012). "Vindicated Prada-Meinhof: Seumas Milne Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  75. ^ Sylvester, Rachel (19 January 2016). "The Corbynistas' love of Putin is a toxic trap". The Times. London. Retrieved 23 January 2016. (subscription required)
  76. ^ Cohen, Nick (6 June 2017). "Seumas Milne and the Stasi". The Spectator. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  77. ^ Niemietz, Kristain (25 August 2017). "Seumas Milne on East Germany: Historical revisionism at its worst". IEA. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  78. ^ Milne, Seumas (21 November 2002). "A war that can't be won". The Guardian.
  79. ^ a b Milne, Seumas (14 October 2009). "In a war for democracy, why worry about public opinion?". The Guardian.
  80. ^ a b Milne, Seumas (20 March 2008). "There must be a reckoning for this day of infamy". The Guardian.
  81. ^ Milne, Seumas (11 October 2001). "Lurching towards catastrophe". The Guardian.
  82. ^ Milne, Seumas (1 July 2004). "The resistance campaign is Iraq's real war of liberation". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  83. ^ Coates, Sam (21 October 2014). "Labour recruit backed Iraqi insurgents". The Times. London. Retrieved 21 October 2015. (subscription required)
  84. ^ a b Dominiczak, Peter; Swinford, Steven (5 December 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn: Execution of Brit by Jihadi John was 'the price we pay for war'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 December 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  85. ^ Milne, Seumas (14 July 2005). "It is an insult to the dead to deny the link with Iraq". The Guardian.
  86. ^ Seidler, Victor Jeleniewski (2007). Urban Fears and Global Terrors: Citizenship, Multicultures and Belongings After 7/7. Abingdon, Oxon & New York, NY: Routledge. p. 117. ISBN 9781134076543.
  87. ^ Seidler Urban Fears and Global Terrors, 2007. p. 118
  88. ^ Anthony, Andrew (20 December 2007). "Wishful thinking and evasion". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2015.. Anthony was mainly responding to Milne, Seumas (20 December 2007). "Cameron must rein in these toxic neocon attack dogs". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2015. See Milne's comments about "Undercover Mosque" in "This onslaught risks turning into a racist witch-hunt". The Guardian. 20 September 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  89. ^ Milne, Seumas (23 March 2009). "Will Israel be brought to book?". The Guardian.
  90. ^ "March this Saturday for Gaza!". Paelestine Solidarity Campaign. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  91. ^ The Fourteen Films video recording of Milne's speech, delivered on 9 August 2014, is on their YouTube feed here.
  92. ^ "Seumas Milne – National Demonstration for Gaza – 09.08.14". 10 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2018 – via YouTube.
  93. ^ "Corbyn appoints terror apologist to top advisory post". The Times of Israel. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  94. ^ "Welcome to Sochi, comrade Milne". The Times. London. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016. (subscription required)
  95. ^ a b Milne, Seumas (5 March 2014). "The clash in Crimea is the fruit of western expansion". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  96. ^ Milne, Seumas (30 April 2014). "It's not Russia that's pushed Ukraine to the brink of war". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  97. ^ a b Bullough, Oliver (23 October 2015). "I wanted to believe in Jeremy Corbyn. But I can't believe in Seumas Milne". New Statesman. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  98. ^ Seely, Bob (6 May 2018). "Labour's press chief Seumas Milne 'peddled Putin's lies'". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 May 2018. (subscription required)
  99. ^ Whittaker, Brian (27 October 2015). "Spinning against imperialism: Jeremy Corbyn, Seumas Milne and the Middle East". Al-bab. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  100. ^ Waugh, Paul (12 October 2016). "Corbyn Spokesman: Focus On Russian Bombing In Syria 'Diverts' Attention From 'American Atrocities'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
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