A thinktank previously run by a Labour minister and the prime minister’s chief of staff paid a PR firm to investigate journalists who were looking into its funding, according to documents seen by the Guardian.
Labour Together, once run by Morgan McSweeney and then by Josh Simons, now a Cabinet Office minister, hired APCO Worldwide to investigate journalists from the Guardian, the Sunday Times and other outlets and to identify their sources, documents suggest.
A memo produced for Labour Together lists journalists viewed as “significant persons of interest” over articles about undeclared donations during McSweeney’s time at the thinktank. It adds: “It is important to identify the source of the information and to ascertain what additional information could be published.”
Sources close to McSweeney said he had not taken the decision to hire APCO and it was a matter for Labour Together. The Guardian has approached Simons, Labour Together, the Labour party and APCO for comment.
Labour MP John McDonnell called for an inquiry into Labour Together, describing the investigation of journalists as “truly shocking”. The allegations come as McSweeney faces pressure over his role in Downing Street following disclosures about Peter Mandelson in the Epstein files.
Documents suggest APCO was hired in 2023 after the Sunday Times published an investigation alleging McSweeney had failed to declare more than £700,000 in donations. Labour Together was fined £14,250 in 2021 over late reporting of donations.
