PM orders investigation into claims Labour think tank paid firm to look into journalist

The prime minister has ordered the Cabinet Office to investigate claims about Labour Together after the group was accused of commissioning a report that investigated the background of a journalist.

Labour Together, which helped Sir Keir Starmer get elected as Labour leader, paid APCO Worldwide at least £30,000 to "investigate the sourcing, funding and origins" of a Sunday Times story about undeclared donations at the think tank before the 2024 general election.

Sir Keir said he "didn't know anything" about APCO Worldwide's investigation adding: "It absolutely needs to be looked into."

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said Labour Together's behaviour "shows a worrying contempt for the free press".

He added: "With its close and widely known links to the heart of government, serious questions must be answered about who was aware of these actions, including whether senior figures around the prime minister knew."

The party said Labour should suspend its links with Labour Together until the allegations had been independently investigated.

The SNP's Westminster deputy leader Pete Wishart said a Cabinet Office investigation amounted to "the Labour government trying to mark its own homework" and called for a cross-party parliamentary inquiry.

Simons said APCO Worldwide had gone beyond what was asked of them adding that he was "surprised and shocked to read the report extended beyond the contract by including unnecessary information on [Sunday Times journalist] Gabriel Pogrund".

He said he had asked for "this information to be removed" before passing the report to the intelligence, security and cyber agency GCHQ.

Earlier this month, when reports first emerged that Labour Together had employed APCO Worldwide to investigate journalist sources, Simons said it was "nonsense" to claim he wanted to investigate journalists.

He said he had asked APCO Worldwide to "look into a suspected illegal hack, which had nothing to do with UK journalists at Sunday Times, Guardian or any other brilliant UK newspaper".

Sources told the BBC the US public affairs firm's report included information about journalist Gabriel Pogrund's Jewish beliefs and claims about his ideological position.

It also claimed, the sources said, that Pogrund's previous reporting, including on the royal family, "could be seen as destabilising to the UK and also in the interests of Russia's strategic foreign policy objectives".

The report was allegedly prepared by a former Sunday Times employee who now works for APCO Worldwide.

In a contract addressed to Simons, seen by BBC News, APCO Worldwide agreed to investigate "the sourcing, funding and origins" of the Sunday Times reporting, as well as the journalist, Paul Holden and Matt Taibbi, an American reporter.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We are deeply committed to upholding our values and standards as an organisation and treat any suggestion that we have failed to do so very seriously.

"We are in the process of undertaking a detailed internal review of the project.

"We are also in discussion with the PRCA [Public Relations and Communications Association], of which we are longstanding members, and will fully support them in their own review of this matter."

Editor of the Sunday Times, Ben Taylor, said the "excuses" of those at the top of Labour Together "won't wash".

"When the report came in, Labour Together people, some of whom are now in the cabinet, were quite happy to talk about its conclusions widely around Westminster - claims that the Sunday Times was being used by the Russian state to run disobliging stories about Labour and frankly cast doubt on the title and their reporters," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Speaking before the investigation had been announced, Labour MP John McDonnell said he had written to Labour four times about the subject after being approach by Democracy for Sale, who initially reported the story.

McDonnell told the Today programme he thought these were "serious allegations" and that the "Labour Party should get on top of it".

He said his reply from the party's general secretary said Labour Together was not a Labour organisation and referred him to the complaints department about individual members of the party.

"I said that doesn't meet the seriousness of this case," he added.

Following the announcement, McDonnell posted on X: "So Cabinet Office is 'assembling the facts' into the activities of a Cabinet Office minister... could I suggest this hardly inspires confidences this will be the thorough and independent inquiry into the activities that is needed."

Another Labour MP, Richard Burgon, said: "The Labour Party needs to start taking these allegations very seriously. That means an independent investigation."

Alison Phillips, the chief executive of Labour Together who joined after the APCO report was commissioned and delivered, said: "I am committed to ensuring Labour Together aspires to the highest standards of probity at all times.

"We stand ready to support the PRCA [and other relevant governance bodies] with its review of this issue."

Separately, in an all-staff email seen by the BBC, Phillips said: "The allegations of recent days have been shocking to read and I know they have been deeply concerning for many of you.

"As a former journalist and editor, it should come as no surprise that I was horrified that investigators hired by Labour Together would look into the background and sources of reporters even if I am assured that this was not the intention."