Labour Together Scandal Reaches the Heart of Downing Street
Prime Minister Keir Starmer finds himself at the center of a growing political storm as the Labour Together scandal continues to unfold, with allegations of undeclared funding and organized efforts to discredit journalists threatening to undermine his government's credibility. The controversy has exposed deep-seated issues within the organization that helped propel Starmer to power, raising urgent questions about transparency and accountability at the highest levels of British politics.
The Funding Controversy That Started It All
In late 2023, Labour Together appeared to be riding high as the influential group behind Starmer's political ascent. With the Labour Party enjoying double-digit leads in opinion polls and Morgan McSweeney, the architect of Labour Together, preparing Starmer for government with promises of political reform, the future seemed bright. However, by early 2026, the landscape had dramatically shifted. McSweeney has been forced out of his position, Labour Together is embroiled in multiple controversies, and Starmer faces intense scrutiny about his knowledge of the organization's activities.
The initial revelations emerged in November 2023 when investigative reports by Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke exposed that Labour Together had failed to declare £730,000 in political donations between 2017 and 2020. While the organization attributed this oversight to administrative errors, the story quickly evolved into something far more serious.
The Smear Campaign Against Journalists
Earlier this month, further explosive details emerged showing that Labour Together, under the leadership of current government minister Josh Simons in 2023, hired the prominent PR firm APCO Worldwide to investigate the journalists reporting on their funding irregularities. The organization paid APCO £36,000 to dig into the "sourcing, funding and origins" of the story and gather compromising information about Sunday Times journalists and others covering the scandal.
Most disturbingly, APCO's work included baseless suggestions that the journalists' reporting might have originated from leaks orchestrated by Russia or China. Labour Together didn't keep these unfounded insinuations private but instead shared some of APCO's material with security services, potentially drawing public authorities into what appears to be an organized effort to discredit legitimate journalism.
Government Response and Growing Skepticism
After initially attempting to close ranks and hoping the controversy would fade, the Labour government has been forced to respond to mounting pressure. Starmer has stated that APCO's work for Labour Together "absolutely needs to be looked into," while Simons has claimed he was "surprised and shocked" by some of the report's contents and requested removal of certain information before it was passed to GCHQ.
The Cabinet Office has reportedly launched an informal inquiry, but serious questions remain about its independence given that Simons, who commissioned APCO's work, currently serves as a Cabinet Office minister in Starmer's government. This arrangement has been widely criticized as allowing the government to mark its own homework rather than subjecting itself to genuine scrutiny.
Connections to Starmer's Inner Circle
The scandal reaches directly into Starmer's inner circle. When APCO was hired, its London office was managed by Kate Forrester, a Labour Together adviser whose husband, Paul Ovenden, served as Starmer's head of communications at the time. Ovenden was later forced to resign from government after offensive messages he sent about Diane Abbott came to light.
Furthermore, Starmer's right-hand man Morgan McSweeney was aware of APCO's work, and Starmer himself has demonstrated keen interest in media coverage throughout his political career. Against this backdrop, the prime minister's recent claims that he "didn't know anything" about the smear campaign appear increasingly difficult to reconcile with the available evidence.
The Significance of Undeclared Funding
The journalists targeted by APCO weren't merely writing negative stories; they were uncovering crucial information about Starmer's political rise. Their reporting revealed that Starmer's leadership campaign benefited from hundreds of thousands of pounds in undeclared funding that paid for detailed polling and analysis of Labour members during Jeremy Corbyn's final years as leader.
McSweeney used this data to position Starmer as the candidate best equipped to win the leadership contest. Had Labour Together's funders—including businessman Trevor Chinn and hedge fund manager Martin Taylor—been publicly known at the time, the campaign's carefully cultivated image of Labour unity might have fractured significantly.
Broader Implications for British Politics
This scandal raises profound questions about political transparency and the influence of private intelligence operations in British democracy. London serves as the global center of the private intelligence industry, valued at approximately £15 billion annually, yet its activities remain largely opaque to public scrutiny. APCO's work for Labour Together only became public due to a rare leak, highlighting how such operations typically remain hidden from view.
Senior figures now serving in Starmer's government, including cabinet ministers Steve Reed and Lisa Nandy, were involved with Labour Together during the period in question. The Electoral Commission eventually fined the organization £14,250 for multiple breaches of election law, but the full story never gained significant traction, partly due to APCO's successful efforts to shift attention away from Labour Together's conduct by suggesting the organization was the victim of foreign interference.
The Path Forward for Starmer's Government
Josh Simons' position as a government minister appears increasingly untenable given his direct involvement in commissioning APCO's work. However, Starmer faces pressure to go beyond simply dismissing a single minister. The prime minister must decide whether to commission a genuinely independent inquiry and answer urgent questions about his own knowledge of these events, or risk becoming implicated in what many perceive as an ongoing cover-up.
When Starmer assumed power promising to clean up politics, he wrote in the Guardian that journalism represents "the lifeblood of democracy." The revelation that the organization central to his political rise orchestrated a campaign to smear journalists represents a significant contradiction that threatens to undermine his government's credibility. How Starmer responds to this crisis will reveal much about his commitment to transparency and accountability in British politics.
