Cabinet Minister Accused of Commissioning PR Firm to Probe Journalists' Sources
Allegations have emerged that a government minister authorised payments to a prominent public relations and lobbying agency to investigate the confidential sources of journalists, prior to his election to Parliament. Josh Simons, who currently serves as Cabinet Office Minister and was formerly chief executive of the pro-Starmer think tank Labour Together, is at the centre of these claims.
Contract Details Reveal Investigation Scope
According to a contract obtained by the BBC, the global advisory firm APCO Worldwide was engaged to "investigate the sourcing, funding and origins of a Sunday Times article about Labour Together" along with future work by two political journalists. The investigative website Democracy for Sale first reported these allegations, analysing Labour Together's response to media coverage regarding over £700,000 in undeclared donations between 2017 and 2020.
In September 2021, Labour Together received a £14,250 fine from the Electoral Commission for late reporting of donations. Democracy for Sale states that APCO was paid a minimum of £30,000 to conduct the investigation in 2023, during Simons' leadership of the think tank.
Potential Sources and Journalist Targeting
Briefing documents provided to Labour Together reportedly identified two possible origins for the story: either a leak from the Electoral Commission or the think tank itself, or "illegally-gathered information collected from the 2023 hack of the Electoral Commission that has been passed on to the author." The APCO briefings are said to have marked other journalists as "significant persons of interest" while discussing potential "leverage" over certain reporters.
Additionally, APCO allegedly produced a memorandum apparently designed to discredit South African journalist Paul Holden, who collaborated on The Sunday Times story. The leaked contract indicates APCO intended to "establish who and what are behind the coordinated attacks on Labour Together" and compile evidence for media use to proactively undermine future criticisms.
Minister's Response and Firm's Objectives
On social media platform X, Josh Simons vehemently denied the allegations, calling claims that he sought to investigate journalists "nonsense." He stated he requested APCO Worldwide to examine a suspected illegal hack, which he insisted was unrelated to UK journalists at The Sunday Times, The Guardian, or any other British newspaper. "APCO's investigation never fully got to the bottom of this," Simons wrote, adding "Those who know me know I think the work of journalists is vital to our democracy."
According to BBC reports, APCO outlined plans to "provide a body of evidence that could be packaged up for use in the media in order to create narratives that would proactively undermine any future attacks on Labour Together" using open source and digital forensics methodologies. Neither Labour Together nor APCO Worldwide has responded to requests for comment from The Independent regarding these allegations.
