Ex-national Trust aide joins Labour environment team

A FORMER National Trust adviser has joined the team of Labour’s shadow environment secretary.

Adam Dyster was previously an adviser to René Olivieri, the chairman of the National Trust board and Hilary Mcgrady, its director-general. Yesterday, he announced he had taken a role as a political adviser to Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary.

Mr Dyster said he was “really excited” to join Mr Reed’s team at “a critical moment for nature, for farmers, and for rural communities”. He added: “After 14 years of neglect and broken promises, our countryside deserves better.”

Mr Dyster previously worked for Sera, Labour’s environmental campaign group, before joining the National Trust in 2018. On his Linkedin profile, Mr Dyster lists his duties at the National Trust as “speechwriting”, supporting the “policy agenda” of Ms Mcgrady and Mr Olivieri and “advice and intelligence-sharing”.

Earlier this year, Sir Keir Starmer defended the National Trust against what he claimed was a Tory “war” with the charity and accusations it was pursuing a “woke” agenda.

It came a week after Sir Keir met with Ms Mcgrady, alongside the shadow environment secretary Steve Reed. The National Trust’s leadership has been under fire from Conservative MPS over its campaigning on the Government’s nature and climate change policies.

The charity criticised Rishi Sunak’s rollback on some net zero policies last year as “barely fathomable”, and urged the prime minister to rethink. In 2022, Mrs Mcgrady argued that several Government policies threatened the National Trust’s aims, including nature, beauty and heritage, as it set out a series of “red lines” for the charity.

As an adviser to Mr Reed, Mr Dyster will be expected to provide party political advice on specific policy areas within the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Mr Reed has promised that Labour will help farmers set up solar farms and has said “clean energy production” in the countryside is a top priority alongside food production.

Before joining the National Trust, Mr Dyster was the sole employee managing campaigns at Sera.

In the role, he contributed policy ideas and briefings which influenced Labour’s 2017 manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn, according to his Linkedin profile.

He also spent three years as a volunteer researcher for Sir Bob Russell, the Liberal Democrat MP.