PM orders investigation into Labour Together claims

The prime minister has ordered the Cabinet Office to investigate minister Josh Simons over claims Labour Together, the group he used to head, commissioned 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 ahead of the 2024 election.

Simons said APCO Worldwide had "gone beyond" what it had been asked to do by including "unnecessary information".

Opposition parties have said Simons should step down while the Cabinet Office investigation takes place.

Kevin Hollinrake, the party's chairman, said the Labour Party should also "investigate and review its ongoing relationship with Labour Together in light of these very serious accusations".

It is understood the government's propriety and ethics team will be responsible for the Cabinet Office investigation and will examine Simons' actions rather than investigating Labour Together as a whole.

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

Simons said he had been "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 emerged that Labour Together had employed APCO Worldwide to examine 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".

The BBC has not seen APCO Worldwide's report in full but sources familiar with its contents have confirmed the details, which were reported by the Sunday Times.

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.

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."

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 reported the story in February.

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.

Another Labour MP, Richard Burgon, said the Cabinet Office should not be investigating a Cabinet Office minister and called for "an independent investigation".

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart said Simons should "temporarily step down" while the Cabinet Office investigation takes place.

"It looks like the group that credits itself with getting Labour into government has carried out an outrageous attack on our independent free press," she added.

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.

The party also called on the prime minister to sack Simons as Cabinet Office minister.

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