Owen Smith hires Jeremy Corbyn's former policy adviser

Owen Smith has hired a former senior member of Jeremy Corbyn’s inner-circle to be his chief policy adviser for the duration of his Labour leadership bid.

In a significant defection, Neale Coleman, who was in charge of a policy and rebuttal in Mr Corbyn’s office, stepped aside from his top role in January due to the “pressures and demands” of the job on his family life.

The Labour veteran was an early recruit to Mr Corbyn’s office and is credited with getting the then new team off the ground. Mr Coleman was also one of the few advisers to former London mayor Ken Livingstone to stay on at City Hall after Boris Johnson’s election as in 2008.

Announcing his new campaign team Mr Smith said he was “delighted” that the highly-regarded Mr Coleman agreed to join his inner-circle as his chief policy adviser. “He has a wealth of expertise, including working across major projects in City Hall, where he helped deliver the 2012 Olympics,” he said.

The leadership contender also said that Kate Green, the former shadow women and equalities, will be in charge of campaign management while Heidi Alexander and Lisa Nandy, who also resigned from Mr Corbyn’s frontbench, will co-chair his campaign.

Jo Stevens, currently the shadow justice secretary, will be his trade union adviser while John Lehal, who was campaign director during Andy Burnham’s failed leadership bid in summer 2015, has also agreed to head up Mr Smith’s operations for the duration of the campaign.

“I’m proud to have assembled a strong, radical senior team to help me flesh out a vision for Labour’s future. I served loyally in the shadow cabinet alongside Kate, Heidi, and Lisa, and witnessed first-hand that they are some of the finest members of the new generation of leaders in the Labour party,” added Mr Smith.

Speaking in January a Labour spokesperson told The Independent that Mr Coleman had decided to step down as from the leader’s office “because of the pressures and demands of the job on his family life”.

They added: “He is currently in discussions about continuing to work with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Leader’s team in an advisory and support role.”

Mr Coleman endorsed the Labour party statement, at the time, and offered his support for Mr Corbyn. “With the 24/7 news cycle, the demands and pressures of this particular job are very great and greater than I had foreseen. I have reluctantly decided that, with my young family it is best to stand down now so someone else can have a proper run at it,” he said.

“I continue to be a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and want to contribute to his and the Labour party’s success in the future. I am now discussing the details of how I can make a continuing contribution in providing support and advice to him, his team and the Labour party.”

Speaking at the time of Mr Coleman’s appointment to Mr Corbyn’s team, former mayor Ken Livingstone told BBC London he was "delighted" to learn of the hire and described Mr Coleman as "the mastermind behind the Olympics".

“He is a brilliant ideas man who will bring well-thought-out, intelligent policies to the table," said Mr Livingstone.