{"id":2570803,"date":"2026-02-17T17:29:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/keir-starmer-announces-investigation-into-labour-smear-campaign\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:31:40","slug":"keir-starmer-announces-investigation-into-labour-smear-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/keir-starmer-announces-investigation-into-labour-smear-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer announces investigation into Labour smear campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkeir-starmer-announces-investigation-into-labour-smear-campaign%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2570803&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>british Prime Minister Keir starmer has ordered a Cabinet Office investigation into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/newsom-received-pricey-wine-from-harvey-weinsteins-lawyer-records-show\/\" title=\"Newsom Received Pricey Wine From Harvey Weinstein\u2019s Lawyer, Records Show\">covert smear campaign<\/a> by the Labor-aligned think tank Labour Together, which allegedly tried too link Sunday Times journalists to a Russian conspiracy. The article says Labour Together paid APCO Worldwide about $49,000 to produce an intelligence dossier on reporters Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke after a 2023 Sunday Times piece scrutinizing the group\u2019s finances. The Operation Cannon report claimed Kremlin involvement in the journalists\u2019 emails and suggested the emails could have been obtained through Russian hacking, with APCO also providing personal details about one journalist that were later redacted. While some supporters, like Josh Simons, initially denied that the campaign targeted journalists, later reporting indicated the contract instructed APCO to examine the sourcing and origins of the Sunday Times story. The piece places the affair in the context of Labour Together\u2019s campaign-finance breaches and broader political controversies,including links to Morgan McSweeney,Kate Forrester,and the Mandelson\/epstein-related debates. Starmer stated he had no knowledge of the smear campaign and that an official investigation would proceed.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Keir Starmer announces investigation into Labour smear campaign alleging journalists part of Russian conspiracy<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2500190\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>British Prime Minister <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/keir-starmer\/\">Keir Starmer <\/a>has ordered an investigation into a report compiled by a Labour-aligned think tank that <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/politics\/article\/labour-activists-smear-sunday-times-journalists-kd269klb8\">attempted to implicate<\/a> journalists in a non-existent <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\/\">Russian<\/a> conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>Left-wing think tank Labour Together <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/media\/article\/who-are-apco-labour-together-morgan-mcsweeney-cabinet-office-probe-n2gj55t6g\">allegedly paid<\/a> $49,000 to APCO Worldwide, a U.S.-based public affairs firm, seeking to expose the &ldquo;backgrounds and motivations&rdquo; of reporters who wrote a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/politics\/article\/keir-starmer-prime-minister-morgan-mcsweeney-investigation-65fnh8zrt\">damaging story about the think tank<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4460647\/belgium-summons-bill-white-offensive-accusation-antisemitism-personal-attack\/\">Belgium summons US ambassador over &#8216;offensive&#8217; accusation of antisemitism: &#8216;Personal attack&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4460101\/hamas-dismisses-israel-threat-to-complete-mission-disarm-60-days\/\">Hamas dismisses Israel threat to &#8216;complete the mission&#8217; if terrorist group doesn&#8217;t disarm<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4460065\/ali-khamenei-iran-nuclear-industry-our-undeniable-right-threats-against-us\/\">Iranian supreme leader calls nuclear industry &#8216;our undeniable right&#8217; in series of threats against US<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Starmer said on Monday that he had <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/investigation-launched-into-claims-labour-campaign-group-hired-lobbyists-to-probe-journalists-13508188\">no knowledge of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/indictment-clinton-crony-lied-to-fbi-to-spread-trump-russia-smear\/\" title=\"Indictment: Clinton Crony Lied to FBI To Spread Trump-Russia Smear\">alleged smear campaign<\/a><\/a>, which sought to link the <em>Sunday Times<\/em> reporters to the Kremlin, and that it &ldquo;absolutely needs to be looked into.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There will be a Cabinet Office investigation into the allegations. And quite right too &mdash; so, that is already in place,&rdquo; Starmer told the press.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer takes part in a panel discussion with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, moderated by Christine Amanpour at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (Stefan Rousseau\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The covert blitz against the <em>Sunday Times<\/em> reporters &mdash; Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke &mdash; began after they published a 2023 report detailing Labour Together&rsquo;s failure to declare approximately $990,000 of donations between 2017 and 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Their article outlined how Labour Together had been fined in 2021 by the nation&rsquo;s Electoral Commission after authorities found 20 breaches of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/google-expands-security-efforts-ahead-of-2022-elections\/\" title=\"Google Expands Security Efforts Ahead of 2022 Elections\">campaign finance law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Then-head of Labour Together, Josh Simons, commissioned APCO to produce an intelligence report on the &ldquo;backgrounds and motivations&rdquo; of Pogrund and Yorke, with the project name &ldquo;Operation Cannon.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>APCO Senior Director Tom Harper, a former employee of the <em>Sunday Times<\/em>, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/11d5d367-3ad4-4f19-b333-cef811304988\">reportedly prepared<\/a> the dossier.<\/p>\n<p>The Operation Cannon report cited &ldquo;discreet human source enquiries&rdquo; to allege that emails used as the foundation for the <em>Sunday Times&rsquo;s<\/em> expos&eacute; were likely to have been obtained through a Kremlin hacking operation against the Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The likeliest culprit is the Russian state, or proxies of the Russian state,&rdquo; Harper wrote in the report, speculating that the <em>Sunday Times<\/em> story &ldquo;could be seen as destabilizing to the UK and also in the interests of Russia&rsquo;s strategic foreign policy objectives.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>APCO also provided thorough details about Pogrund&rsquo;s Jewish faith and perceived ideological agenda. <\/p>\n<p>These details about Pogrund were redacted when APCO passed the Operation Cannon report to the Government Communications Headquarters&rsquo; National Cyber Security Centre, which declined to investigate the Russian conspiracy hypothesis.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; APCO said of the investigation into its work, according to the <em>Financial Times<\/em>. &ldquo;We are in the process of undertaking a detailed internal review of the project.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Simons, who is now a member of parliament and Cabinet Office minister, initially dismissed the idea that Labour Together targeted the journalists as &ldquo;nonsense,&rdquo; asserting that APCO was commissioned to &ldquo;look into a suspected illegal hack&rdquo; that had &ldquo;nothing to do&rdquo; with the <em>Sunday Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is nonsense. <\/p>\n<p>APCO were asked 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.<\/p>\n<p>APCO&rsquo;s investigation never fully got to the bottom of this.  <\/p>\n<p>Those who know me know I think the&hellip; <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DFP3wlLLUQ\">pic.twitter.com\/DFP3wlLLUQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Josh Simons MP (@joshsimonsmp) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshsimonsmp\/status\/2019864234646204874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 6, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>However, his tone changed after various outlets, including the BBC, independently confirmed that the contract with APCO instructed the firm to investigate &ldquo;the sourcing, funding and origins&rdquo; of the <em>Sunday Times<\/em> story.<\/p>\n<p>Democracy for Sale, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/democracyforsale.substack.com\/p\/starmer-ally-josh-simons-apco-labour-together-journalists\">citing a copy of the contract<\/a>, asserts that it explicitly states the Operation Cannon report &ldquo;should provide a body of evidence that could be packaged up for us in the media in order to create narratives that would proactively undermine any future attacks on Labour Together.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was surprised and shocked to read the report <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c0ljzzk62kyo\">extended beyond the contract<\/a> by including unnecessary information on Gabriel Pogrund,&rdquo; Simons said, according to the BBC. &ldquo;I asked for this information to be removed before passing the report to GCHQ.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>At the time that APCO was hired by Labour Together, its London office was being run by Labour Party adviser Kate Forrester &mdash; the wife of Paul Ovenden, Starmer&rsquo;s then-head of communications.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was aware of the work happening. I may have been copied in on some emails,&rdquo; Forrester told Democracy for Sale, but maintained that her &ldquo;involvement was very sort of peripheral.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4454077\/starmer-accused-of-stuffing-government-pedophile-apologists\/\">STARMER ACCUSED OF &lsquo;STUFFING GOVERNMENT&rsquo; WITH &lsquo;PEDOPHILE APOLOGISTS&rsquo;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Morgan McSweeney, who recently stepped down as Starmer&rsquo;s chief of staff following revelations about his role in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4450779\/scottish-labour-leader-keir-starmer-resign-peter-mandelson-epstein\/\">Lord Peter Mandelson affair<\/a>, was head of Labour Together at the time of the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >campaign finance law violations<\/a> later reported by the <em>Sunday Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The Labour Together scandal comes at the worst possible time as Starmer remains <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4451461\/starmer-not-resigning-amid-potential-replacements-emerging\/\">mired in the Mandelson affair<\/a> and is promising to provide transparency on how his government failed to flag the former ambassador&rsquo;s relationship with convicted sex offender <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jeffrey-epstein\/\">Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered a Cabinet Office probe into a report produced by Labour Together, a Labour-aligned think tank, that aimed to smear journalists by linking them to a fictitious Kremlin-backed conspiracy. The think tank allegedly paid APCO Worldwide about $49,000 to examine the backgrounds and motives of Sunday Times reporters Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke after they covered Labour Together\u2019s late-2010s fundraising, including about $990,000 in donations not declared initially. The project, code-named Operation Cannon, was led by APCO senior director Tom Harper, a former Sunday Times employee. The dossier claimed, based on \u201cdiscreet\u201d inquiries, that emails underpinning the Times story may have originated from a Russian hacking operation against the Electoral Commission, arguing the Russian state or its proxies were the likely culprits and that the reporting could destabilize the UK and serve Russia\u2019s goals. It also contained details about Pogrund\u2019s Jewish faith and perceived ideological leanings. Those specifics were redacted when APCO handed the report to the Government Communications Headquarters\u2019 National Cyber Security Centre, which declined to investigate the Kremlin theory. APCO said it is conducting an internal review of its work. Initially, Labour Together\u2019s then-head Josh Simons dismissed the idea that the journalists were targeted, but he later acknowledged the contract extended beyond a simple hack inquiry. The episode comes as Starmer faces other political revelations and pledges greater transparency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2570804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26045360122382.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[73428,73430,73296],"class_list":["post-2570803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-keir-starmer-2","tag-labour-party-2","tag-uk-politics-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26045360122382.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2570803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2570807,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570803\/revisions\/2570807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2570804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2570803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2570803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2570803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}