Neale Coleman is a British Labour politician. He is a former senior adviser to

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

as Leader of the Labour Party, and was a close aide to

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

Early life and education

His mother was a former Labour councillor in

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

and a former Mayor of the borough. His brother is

Iain Coleman Iain Coleman (born 18 January 1958) was the Labour Member of Parliament for Hammersmith and Fulham in London from 1997 to 2005. He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for Shepherd's Bush Green ward in M ...

, the former Labour Leader and Mayor of

Hammersmith and Fulham Council Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, which styles itself Hammersmith and Fulham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in Lo ...

and Labour Member of Parliament for

Hammersmith and Fulham Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

from 1997 to 2005. Coleman read Greats at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and graduated with a First.

Career

He joined the Civil Service and became a housing officer in

Haringey The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three forme ...

. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, he was elected as a Westminster City councillor for Maida Vale ward, representing the Labour Party. As a Westminster councillor, he helped reveal the

Westminster cemeteries scandal The Westminster cemeteries scandal was a British political scandal which began in January 1987 when Westminster City Council (WCC) sold three cemeteries, three lodges, one flat, a Crematory, crematorium and over of prime development land in Londo ...

. He lost his seat in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. Coleman ran again in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, but was unsuccessful. In 2000, he was appointed Senior Policy Adviser "Best Value" to

following his

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

. He was reported to be one of Livingstone's closest advisors, enjoying "virtually immediate access to the mayor". After Livingstone's re-election in 2004, Coleman's salary was raised to £111,000 a year; higher than that of the mayor himself. Coleman was the only senior adviser to continue serving under Livingstone's successor

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

, who referred to him as "Comrade Coleman". Coleman was appointed by Jeremy Corbyn to be the Labour Party's Director of Policy following Corbyn's victory in the Labour Party leadership election. Alongside fellow former Livingstone aide, Simon Fletcher, Coleman was dubbed one of the "Mensheviks" in Corbyn's inner circle. He resigned in January 2016 following reports of disagreements with Corbyn's head of strategy and communications

Seumas Milne Seumas Patrick Charles Milne (born 5 September 1958)''Winchester College: A Register''. Edited by P.S.W.K. McClure and R.P. Stevens, on behalf of the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester College. 7th edition, 2014. pp. 582 (Short Half 1971 list hea ...

and

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the fifth prime minister of Australia from 1908 to 1909, 1910 to 1913 and 1914 to 1915. He held office as the leader of the Australian ...

, the leader’s policy adviser. In 2016, he was appointed as an adviser to London Mayor

Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...

's transition team, but resigned just three weeks into the job following reports that Khan was unwilling to extend Coleman's contract beyond the three-month transition period. In 2022, Coleman was appointed to chair

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...

's Future of Westminster Commission. The commission includes Coleman's fellow former Westminster City Labour councillors

Karen Buck Dame Karen Patricia Buck (born 30 August 1958) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Westminster North (UK Parliament constituency), Westminster ...

(now the MP for

Westminster North Westminster North was a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It existed for the periods 1983–1997 and 2010–2024. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constit ...

, a constituency in the borough) and Jackie Rosenberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Neale 1953 births Living people Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the City of Westminster Alumni of the University of Oxford 21st-century British politicians 20th-century British politicians

Early life and education

Career

See also

References