Sir Keir Starmer is facing pressure from the Conservatives and his own MPs to launch an inquiry into a Labour thinktank’s secret investigation of journalists. The Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons commissioned a report in 2023 that made “baseless claims” about reporters covering Labour Together, the group that helped propel Starmer to power.
The report, produced by PR consultancy Apco Worldwide, was paid for by Simons when he was director of Labour Together. It examined the “sourcing, funding and origins” of a November 2023 Sunday Times story and other investigations into the thinktank. Apco’s senior director Tom Harper, a former Sunday Times employee, allegedly wrote that the emails behind the story likely came from a Kremlin hack of the Electoral Commission and made unsubstantiated references to reporter Gabriel Pogrund’s Jewish background.
The Conservatives have written to Labour’s chair Anna Turley demanding an immediate investigation into Simons’ role and that of other Labour Together directors, including serving cabinet ministers. The thinktank was previously run by Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s recently departed chief of staff, whose own involvement is under scrutiny.
Simons said he was “surprised and shocked” the report included unnecessary information about Pogrund and that he asked for it to be removed before passing the document to GCHQ. He insisted no other British journalists were investigated in any documents he or Labour Together received. The Public Relations and Communications Association has launched a standards committee investigation into the matter, which Simons welcomed.
Alison Phillips, former Daily Mirror editor who became Labour Together’s chief executive three months ago, said she was “horrified” by the report but stressed the organisation was “under new leadership”. Veteran Labour MP John McDonnell has written three times to the party’s general secretary calling for an independent inquiry, while fellow MP Karl Turner said Starmer should meet McDonnell to discuss the affair. The Conservative chair Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour Together of showing “contempt for the free press”.
