One of Jeremy Corbyn’s top aides is quitting his post amid claims that he was sidelined by rival factions within the Labour leader’s inner circle.
Simon Fletcher, who was tasked with the party’s preparations for a snap general election, will now resign as his Director of Campaigns and Planning.
The 48-year-old left-winger masterminded Corbyn’s surprise 2015 leadership election landslide.
As Corbyn’s original chief of staff, he was a key figure in meetings with foreign leaders like Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
But he has slowly been left out of the leader’s top team in recent months. Fletcher was ousted from his more senior post last year and replaced by former Unite official Karie Murphy, a key ally of union boss Len McCluskey.
In statements to HuffPost UK, both the Labour leader and Fletcher suggested that their parting had been amicable.
Corbyn said: “I’d like to thank Simon for his work, both for my office in parliament and as the campaign director of my 2015 leadership election campaign.
“Simon has played a vital role in shaping the new politics and building Labour’s campaign to rebuild and transform Britain.
“I’ve known Simon for many years, we will continue to work together on the cause of social justice in Britain and I wish him well in the future.”
Fletcher said: “Working for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign and in the leader of the opposition’s office in parliament has been a huge privilege.
“I have worked with Jeremy for well over two decades and I will continue to support him and his leadership of the Labour party and look forward to working together for many years to come,” he said.
A former key aide to Ken Livingstone when he was Mayor of London, and to Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader, Fletcher had been effectively cut out of the major decisions, party sources told HuffPost UK.
His close colleague Neale Coleman, a former policy chief for Corbyn, also quit last year over fears that the leader was failing to reach out to the non-Labour voters needed to win a general election.
Fletcher’s departure was also hastened by the removal last week of his close ally Jon Trickett, as election co-ordinator, and claims that he felt Corbyn was not delivering on his promise of a ‘new politics’.
