Angela Eagle wasn’t told about a controversial plan to ban companies who do not pay a living wage from paying out dividends to shareholders before Jeremy Corbyn floated it in a speech last week, Coffee House understands.

I have learned that the Shadow Business Secretary was not consulted over the proposal, which is believed to have triggered the resignation of the Labour leader’s Head of Policy and Rebuttal, Neale Coleman. Corbyn floated the idea in his speech to the Fabian Society on Saturday, saying 'another proposal would be to bar or restrict companies from distributing dividends until they pay all their workers the living wage'.

It is normal for the Shadow Cabinet member responsible for a policy area to at least be notified before an announcement, but Corbyn's aides argued that he was not announcing any set policy. His spokesman said: 'These weren't policy announcements, just floating ideas for discussion.'

Eagle’s exclusion from the meetings is part of a wider pattern of Corbyn limiting discussion to the tiniest of inner circles, and not turning to his fellow frontbench MPs. He seems to be relying mainly on his communications chief Seumas Milne and his policy adviser Andrew Fisher.

As I reported during Corbyn’s reshuffle (which we believe has finished), the Labour leader did not tell his Deputy Tom Watson when he was carrying out his appointments, with Watson returning from holiday after his ally Michael Dugher had been sacked.

One Labour source says: ‘The leader’s office is in total chaos, cock-ups like Jeremy’s speech to the Fabians are partly fuelled by deep-seated mistrust of one another and partly due to incompetence. Neale’s departure will only make things worse and serves to tighten the grip of Milne and Fisher on the leadership.’

But another source said that Fisher ‘just writes pretty boring speeches: he’s not a threat.’ And those loyal to the leadership argue that it's difficult to trust many Shadow Cabinet members at present, and therefore it's entirely reasonable for him to restrict discussions to his true allies.

I also understand that there are tensions between Corbynites and Eagle, who is believed to be ‘not exactly helpful’, according to one source close to the leadership. She is also not exactly moveable, given her popularity in the parliamentary party, her role as chair of the National Policy Forum, and her title as Shadow First Secretary of State. But this means that she is not being involved in discussions that under any other leadership she would be instrumental in.

This does raise the question of what the point of being a Shadow Cabinet member is if you’re not even able to have your say in discussions about key policies.