James Schneider

James Schneider is a former Co-Chair of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats and the former Press Officer for the left wing grassroots movement Momentum. In October 2016 he was appointed as a PR advisor to the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, taking the role of Director of Strategic Communications.[1][2]

James Schneider
Born1987 (age 33–34)
Alma materTrinity College, Oxford
OrganizationMomentum
Political partyLabour Party

Early life and education
Winchester College

Schneider was born to Jewish parents in London.[3] He was educated at the Dragon School and Winchester College before transferring to St Paul's School for the sixth form.[4] He later attended Trinity College, Oxford at the University of Oxford to study Theology. While at Oxford, he was president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats.[5]

Career

He joined Think Africa Press in 2010, a role he held until he became the senior correspondent at New African in 2014. He has described his work at Think Africa Press as formative, in which he began to look at local issues using ideas that were critical of capitalism and imperialism.[6] Schneider joined the Labour Party in May 2015 after the defeat of Ed Miliband and Labour in the 2015 general election.[7] He was a key figure within the left-wing grassroots movement Momentum, which was formed in October 2015 as a support group for Jeremy Corbyn, who had been elected Labour leader the previous month.[8] The group also played a significant role in the 2016 campaign to reelect Corbyn after a leadership challenge. Following their success in this campaign, Schneider was appointed as Director of Strategic Communications for the office of the Leader of the Opposition - Corbyn - in October 2016.[9][10]

Schneider has written numerous articles for the New Statesman magazine[11] on topics concerning the Labour Party. He states that he has read Marxist sociologist Ralph Miliband (father of Ed) and "learned from his critiques", but states that the academic was "writing in a different moment of history".[6]

Personal life

He is the son of Brian Schneider, who was chief executive of property company OEM plc before his death in 2004,[12] and Tessa Lang, a London-based property consultant.

Schneider describes himself as "culturally Jewish".[13][5]

References
  1. "This is how Jeremy Corbyn's team believes he can still become UK prime minister".
  2. "The fight of his life: on the road with Jeremy Corbyn". The Guardian. 2 June 2017.
  3. "Momentum: inside Labour's revolutionary movement". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 March 2019.(subscription required)
  4. Tatler. "Will champagne socialists soon be all Labour has left?". Tatler. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  5. Gilligan, Andrew (13 December 2015). "James Schneider: face of Momentum activists - with education and childhood home 'paid for by fraud'". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  6. "Maintaining Momentum". jacobinmag.com.
  7. Bennett, Owen (20 October 2015). "Momentum Is Not A 'Shadowy' Group With A 'Hit List' Of Labour MPs, Says Leading Organiser". HuffPost UK.
  8. "Maintaining Momentum". Jacobin. October 2016.
  9. "Jeremy Corbyn set to get extra media help - but not from Paul Mason". Total Politics. 14 October 2016.
  10. Long, Camilla (23 April 2017). "Corbyn's posh boys can't crush 'the elite'". The Times. Retrieved 3 September 2017. (subscription required)
  11. "Writers". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  12. "OEM shareholder face cash call | London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. 30 July 2004. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  13. "The Jewish Labour Gurus Striving to Turn Jeremy Corbyns Reputation Around". Haaretz newspaper. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2018.


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