Labour Thinktank Close to Prime Minister's Aide Accused of Hiring Firm to Investigate Journalists
Labour Together, a thinktank previously managed by a Labour minister and the prime minister's chief of staff, is facing serious allegations that it paid a public relations firm to investigate journalists who were examining its funding sources. According to reports in the Substack publication Democracy for Sale, the organisation hired APCO Worldwide to look into reporters from the Guardian, the Sunday Times, and other outlets, with the aim of identifying their confidential sources.
Key Figures and Timeline of the Allegations
The thinktank was once run by Morgan McSweeney, who is now Keir Starmer's top aide in Downing Street, and later by Josh Simons, who currently serves as a Cabinet Office minister. McSweeney left Labour Together in 2020 when he joined Starmer's team, but he maintained close ties with the organisation, which played a crucial role in supporting Starmer's successful election campaign in 2024. Simons was the director of Labour Together at the time APCO was reportedly engaged.
Sources close to McSweeney have stated that he was not involved in the decision to hire APCO, emphasising that it was a matter for Labour Together itself. The Guardian has reached out to Simons, Labour Together, the Labour Party, and APCO for comment. Democracy for Sale reported that all parties, including Simons, McSweeney, Labour Together, the Labour Party, and APCO, declined to comment on the record regarding these allegations.
Context of the Investigation and Funding Controversies
The allegations emerge as McSweeney faces mounting pressure over his position in Downing Street, following new disclosures about Peter Mandelson in the Epstein files. Downing Street has rejected calls for his removal, but some Labour backbenchers argue that his involvement in Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador makes his role as the prime minister's most senior aide untenable.
On Thursday night, Labour MP Kim Johnson commented on the allegations, suggesting that "McSweeney's operation is rotten to the core." She added, "If this is their idea of leadership, No 10 needs gutting from top to bottom."
Democracy for Sale reports that APCO was hired in 2023, during Simons' tenure at Labour Together, after the Sunday Times published an investigation into the organisation. That article alleged that McSweeney had failed to declare more than £700,000 in donations to the thinktank between 2017 and 2020. This money is said to have funded polling and campaigning efforts that supported Starmer's rise to the Labour leadership.
In September 2021, Labour Together was fined £14,250 by the Electoral Commission for late reporting of £740,000 in donations, after the organisation self-reported its failures to declare the money in 2020.
Details of the Alleged Investigation into Journalists
Democracy for Sale claims to have seen internal reports prepared by APCO Worldwide for Labour Together, which name several journalists as "significant persons of interest." These include Sunday Times reporters Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke, the Guardian's Henry Dyer, Declassified's John McEvoy, and journalists from other outlets. The reports also discuss potential "leverage" over other reporters. Notably, Dyer was the journalist who broke the story of the Electoral Commission's investigation into Labour Together in 2021.
The publication alleges that the thinktank paid the PR firm at least £30,000 to identify the source of stories about its funding. One of the briefings supplied to Labour Together by APCO suggests that a possible source for the Sunday Times story could have been a Russian or Chinese hack of the Electoral Commission.
A document reportedly states: "After a review of publicly available information, there appears to be two potential sources for the information about Labour Together's funding that appeared in the Times article: a leak from someone within the Electoral Commission or Labour Together to the author; or illegally gathered information collected from the 2023 hack of the Electoral Commission that has been passed on to the author."
Another report by APCO for Labour Together, seen by the publications, is reportedly titled: "Executive summary: investigation into Shadow World Investigations." This refers to a London-based investigative outlet run by South African journalists Paul Holden and Andrew Feinstein. The memo allegedly attempts to discredit Holden, who collaborated on the Sunday Times story about Labour Together's finances.
These allegations raise significant questions about transparency and accountability within political thinktanks, particularly those closely associated with high-ranking government officials. The situation continues to develop, with potential implications for Labour's internal dynamics and public trust.
