Starmer Must Face Independent Inquiry Over Labour Together's Journalist Smear Campaign
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peter-geoghegan. "The Labour Together scandal goes right to the heart of No 10 – Starmer has nowhere to hide | Peter Geoghegan | The Guardian." February 17, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The author argues that Keir Starmer's political organization hired a PR firm to dig up dirt on journalists who were investigating their secret funding. Since Starmer's closest allies were involved and he benefited from this secret money, he needs to face an independent investigation or be seen as covering it up.
Conclusion
Keir Starmer must commission an independent inquiry and answer questions about his knowledge of Labour Together's campaign to smear journalists, or risk being implicated in an unsustainable cover-up
Premises
- Labour Together hired PR firm APCO Worldwide for £36,000 to investigate and dig dirt on journalists reporting on the organization's undeclared funding
- APCO's work included baseless suggestions that journalists' reporting originated from Russian or Chinese leaks, and this material was shared with security services
- The scandal connects directly to Starmer's inner circle: APCO's London office was run by Kate Forrester (Labour Together adviser whose husband was Starmer's head of communications), and McSweeney was aware of the work
- The current Cabinet Office inquiry is inadequate because Josh Simons, who commissioned APCO's work, is himself a Cabinet Office minister in Starmer's government
- The undeclared funding (£730,000 between 2017-2020) was crucial to Starmer's leadership campaign, paying for polling data that helped position him as the best candidate to win
- APCO's smear campaign successfully deflected attention from Labour Together's legal violations by suggesting they were victims of a Kremlin hack
- Starmer's claims of ignorance are inconsistent with his known keen interest in media coverage and his close relationships with those involved
Assumptions
- Independent oversight is necessary when investigating potential misconduct by government officials
- Hiring PR firms to smear journalists investigating legitimate stories constitutes serious misconduct
- Political leaders should be held accountable for the actions of organizations that powered their rise to office
- Undeclared political funding undermines democratic transparency and electoral integrity