This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Seumas Milne, Jeremy Corbyn’s director of communications, is leaving the Guardian to work permanently for the Labour leader, it has been announced.

Milne, who was previously associate editor, and a columnist at the paper, was initially granted unpaid leave to work for Labour, after Corbyn swept to the Labour leadership in 2015.

But he is to become a permanent feature of the leader’s team, which has recently been beefed up with a series of new faces, including the former Momentum spokesman James Schneider.

In an email to staff, Katharine Viner, the Guardian’s editor, said: “I’m writing to let you know that, following a period of unpaid leave from Guardian News & Media, Seumas Milne has decided to continue in his role as the Labour party’s strategy and communications director, and is leaving the staff of the Guardian.

“I would like to thank Seumas for his brilliant Guardian journalism, and we hope he’ll write for us again in the future.”