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The prime minister has called upon his ethics adviser to examine the conduct of minister Josh Simons amid allegations relating to a report commissioned by the think tank Simons once led. This report, compiled by APCO Worldwide, allegedly investigated the backgrounds of journalists involved in covering stories about undeclared donations to the think tank, Labour Together, ahead of the 2024 election. Labour Together, which played a role in Sir Keir Starmer’s rise to Labour leadership, reportedly paid the public affairs firm at least £30,000 for this investigation.
Simons has acknowledged that the commissioned company exceeded its remit by including “unnecessary information” in their findings. Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer himself had requested the Cabinet Office to look into the matter, but with over twenty Labour MPs urging a “fully independent investigation”—especially because Simons holds a ministerial office within the Cabinet Office—the prime minister’s decision shifts responsibility to his independent ethics advisor, Sir Laurie Magnus. However, Magnus’s scope is limited to Simons’ ministerial actions and does not cover his prior work at Labour Together before becoming an MP.
Though the full APCO Worldwide report has not been released publicly, sources familiar with the document have revealed parts of its contents to the BBC, corroborating the Sunday Times’ coverage. The report reportedly included details about journalist Gabriel Pogrund’s religious background and ideological leanings. Moreover, it controversially suggested that Pogrund’s previous journalism, particularly regarding the royal family, might be viewed as “destabilising to the UK” and aligned with “Russia’s strategic foreign policy objectives.”
In Parliament, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones confirmed that the Cabinet Office conducted an initial fact-finding inquiry into the allegations and shared its findings with Sir Keir. Subsequently, Sir Keir passed the investigation to his independent ethics adviser. Jones emphasized the government’s commitment to safeguarding press freedom, condemning any attempts to intimidate journalists who hold power to account. Meanwhile, Simons maintains that he engaged APCO Worldwide to probe a “suspected illegal hack” and rejects claims that the investigation targeted journalists.
Conservative shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Alex Burghart, criticized the report for including an unsubstantiated claim that journalists covering Labour Together’s donations may have relied on Russian hacking. Burghart noted that the report was distributed not only within the Labour Party but also to intelligence agency GCHQ, which subsequently found no wrongdoing. He described the situation as a deliberate smear campaign aimed at intimidating journalists and questioned the viability of Simons’ ministerial position. While some Labour MPs welcomed the ethical inquiry, they have called for a broader probe into the activities of Labour Together itself. John McDonnell, for instance, asserted the need for a comprehensive truth-finding process and expressed skepticism about the sufficiency of the current investigation
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