Anger as Gerry Adams’ right-hand woman is appointed Corbyn aide
JEREMY Corbyn has infuriated Labour moderates by hiring Gerry Adams’ righthand woman in London.
Jayne Fisher, the former head of Sinn Fein’s office in the capital, is due to start working for the Labour leader in January, according to party sources.
Mr Corbyn has gone on a hiring spree using the extra cash currently flowing in from trade unions.
But some Labour insiders were dismayed when they discovered he was planning to take on a former employee of Mr Adams.
Miss Fisher, who describes herself as a ‘London based socialist’ on Twitter, has been hired as a ‘stakeholder manager’ for Mr Corbyn.
The Daily Mail understands this means she will be in charge of dealing with ‘external organisations’.
Miss Fisher is part of the Trades Union Congress international committee for the southern and eastern region. In 2014 she stood in for former militant Mr Adams at a Hyde Park rally for Gaza, delivering his speech calling for the Israeli ambassador to Ireland to be expelled.
In 2012, Mr Adams urged his Twitter followers to sponsor Miss Fisher on a charity cycle ride around Cuba. She can be seen with Mr Corbyn, Mr Adams and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness in an infamously cosy photo taken in the Houses of Parliament last year.
The latest register of MPs’ staff – updated on November 8 – lists her as working for Paul Maskey, the Sinn Fein MP for Belfast West.
But his constituency office confirmed Miss Fisher was no longer
‘Go down badly amongst voters’
working for the party, having left ‘some time over the summer’.
A source said Miss Fisher had first joined the Labour Party at 18, later becoming involved with Sinn Fein through a cross-party movement, the ‘Friends of Good Friday Agreement’. Sinn Fein has four MPs at Westminster but none take up their seats as they refuse to pledge allegiance to the Queen.
Labour rules say you cannot be a member of another party, but there is no time period that must pass between quitting another and joining Labour. Miss Fisher, 50, lives in an Islington council flat with Mike Hedges, a 57-year- old taxi driver and leading figure in union Unite.
A Labour MP, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘This is just the latest example of an ill- judged appointment of someone who doesn’t share Labour values. It could also go down badly amongst all those voters who are nervous about the Labour leadership’s commitment to national security.’
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: ‘We don’t comment on staffing matters.’ Miss Fisher did not respond to requests for a comment.