Knives out for Seumas Milne over reshuffle shambles

Labour has found itself on the verge of a civil war today as a number of MPs have turned on their dear leader over his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle. After weeks of conflicting briefings in the media, it was Corbyn’s decision to axe Pat McFadden which proved to be a particular sore point amongst Labour MPs as two shadow ministers resigned in protest.

This was in large because McFadden claims he was sacked over his comments after the Paris terrorist attacks when he asked David Cameron to confirm that the actions of terrorists could not be dismissed as a reaction to the actions of those in the West. At the time, it was clear McFadden was referring to controversial comments from Stop the War which were later deleted.

So it was only a matter of time until anguished MPs turned their attention to Corbyn’s spin doctor Seumas Milne. The Guardian columnist — who is one of Corbyn’s Stop the War comrades — took leave from his job at the paper in October to join Corbyn’s team as the Labour leader’s head of comms.

On today’s Daily Politics, Labour’s Ian Austin said Milne’s behaviour in recent weeks has been ‘a disgrace’. Now John Mann has accused Milne of being behind wild briefings in the media regarding the reshuffle. What’s worse, the Labour MP says that despite Milne’s best efforts to succeed Mandelson as the new ‘Prince of Darkness’, he is simply ‘not that good’ at it:

https://twitter.com/JohnMannMP/status/684749654135799808

Still, at least Milne is trying when it comes to his new role. Last year he was overheard asking the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg for advice on how to do his job. Mr S suspects it’s now time for Milne to up the ante and give Mandy a call.