The two faces of Corbynism and why Labour is hiring controversial advisers

There are two faces to Corbynism. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are doing everything they can at the moment to appear reasonable, not radical, but behind the scenes they are starting to stuff their offices with figures from the hard left. Look at their hiring of advisers such as Andrew Fisher and former Guardian columnist Seumus Milne. This week, two other names are being mooted as new advisers that again show where Corbyn and McDonnell really want to take the party.

The first is Karie Murphy, one of the central figures in the Falkirk scandal. As the FT’s Jim Pickard reports, the close ally of Len McCluskey is being lined up to be Corbyn’s political adviser — alongside Andrew Fisher — and is considered more of a ‘realist’ than others in his team. The Falkirk scandal was one of the low points of Ed Miliband’s leadership, so bringing in one of the key figures from this period into the heart of the Corbyn operation sits uneasily with Labour’s new slogan: ‘Straight Talking.