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Minister used PR firm to investigate journalists' sources
Labour Together spent at least £30,000 hiring APCO Worldwide to investigate journalists and their sources following reports on undeclared funding, raising calls for government scrutiny.
- Labour Together hired APCO Worldwide in 2023 to investigate journalists' sources, reportedly paying at least £30,000 for the effort targeting reporters and their sources.
- Following past regulatory action, including a £14,250 fine, Labour Together hired APCO Worldwide in 2023 to investigate the sources behind critical articles.
- The leaked contract shows APCO Worldwide prepared intelligence using open-source research, human intelligence, and digital forensics, with Josh Simons commissioning the report naming Gabriel Pogrund, Harry Yorke, and John McEvoy as persons of interest.
- Josh Simons said the allegations were `nonsense` and that APCO's work concerned a suspected hack, not UK journalists; SNP Westminster deputy leader Pete Wishart demanded an investigation while a government source said `We are looking into the claims`.
- Journalists say the revelations are `deeply sinister` and pose questions about protecting sources, while ties between Labour Together, Morgan McSweeney and senior Labour figures intensify scrutiny over undeclared donations and the past £14,250 Electoral Commission fine.
10 Articles
10 Articles
Labour think tank paid PR firm to investigate Declassified journalist
A think tank with ties to the top of the Labour government paid a PR firm £30,000 to investigate journalists from media outlets including Declassified UK, it has emerged. Our chief reporter John McEvoy was among the journalists targeted by the group Labour Together in November 2023, according to a report by Democracy for Sale. Labour Together turned to PR firm APCO Worldwide for help after media revelations about its undeclared funding, which re…
Morgan McSweeney’s Think Tank Paid £30k to Spy on Journalists
A think tank formerly directed by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney paid a controversial PR firm at least £30k to investigate journalists who were looking into how its undeclared funding bankrolled Starmer’s successful campaign for party leader. An investigation by Democracy for Sale has found that the rightwing think tank Labour Together, directed by McSweeney from 2017 and from 2022 by Josh Simons, hired APCO Worldwide to investig…
Morgan McSweeney's think tank PAID a private firm to spy on journalists
Labour Together is part of the shady right-wing infrastructure that, along with Peter Mandelson, helped to undermine the left and boost Keir Starmer into power. And a new report reveals how Labour Together spent tens of thousands of pounds getting a dodgy company to investigate journalists looking into all this. This behaviour shows it’s not just Mandelson that should never be near government again. It’s the whole sinister machinery that put Sta…
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Bias Distribution
- 86% of the sources lean Left
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