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Jeremy Corbyn has dished out bumper pay rises of up to 26 per cent “for the few” close aides who work in his private office, the Evening Standard can reveal.

Former Guardian journalist Seumas Milne is now the highest-paid member of the Labour leader’s private office team, with a salary of £101,855.

The Winchester-educated strategy and communications chief had a rise of £2,408, or 2.4 per cent, from £99,447, records kept at the House of Commons reveal. But catching up with him on the pay front are two of Mr Corbyn’s most influential advisers.

Head of policy Andrew Fisher’s pay packet has swollen by more than a quarter, from £71,938 to £90,704, a rise of £18,766 or 26 per cent.

The former union official and activist, who co-founded the Left Economics Advisory Panel chaired by shadow chancellor John McDonnell, was a key author of Labour’s 2017 manifesto and was personally thanked by Mr Corbyn in front of the shadow cabinet for its success.

Corbynites say he is “the brains” of the backroom team. Another inflation-busting pay rise, this time of 15 per cent, has gone to Karie Murphy, Mr Corbyn’s chief of staff. Her pay has gone up by £12,357, from £78,347 to £90,704.

Ms Murphy, who sits with Mr Fisher in the outer office of Mr Corbyn’s suite at Westminster, is a close friend of Left-wing union boss Len McCluskey and is known for imposing her leader’s will “forcefully”. By contrast, the salary of Sarah Mulholland, the secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party, has risen by less than one per cent, from £66,386 to £66,895.

Other big pay cheques in Team Corbyn listed in a declaration of March 31 detailing how opposition funds from the taxpayer — known as Short Money — have been spent, include £82,909 for former media adviser Steve Howell, and £66,895 for media aide David Prescott, son of former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott. A Labour MP said the sums would astonish party rank-and-file members on “ordinary” salaries.

“What on earth will ordinary members outside the London bubble think about such a huge salary as £101,000 for a press adviser?” said the MP.

“Public-sector union members who have seen their own salaries ground down will be quite amazed to see such increases.”

Asked to explain the rises, a Labour Party spokesman said: “We do not comment on staffing matters.” A party official said that some rises were linked to new or additional roles undertaken by the recipients.