A major political scandal has erupted in the UK surrounding Labour Together, an influential Labour think tank closely associated with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. According to investigations by The Sunday Times, BBC, and The Guardian, the center paid the American consulting company APCO Worldwide at least £30,000–£36,000 in 2023 to prepare a report codenamed “Operation Cannon.” The commission was ostensibly designed to verify the sources, funding, and provenance of a journalistic report about undeclared donations to Labour Together.
However, as it turned out, the report went far beyond the contract: it contained personal and false information about Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund, including information about his Jewish faith, family connections, upbringing, and ideological views. Some sources claim the material even hinted at possible involvement in “Russian influence” or hacking of emails.
The report was commissioned by the then head of Labour Together, Josh Simons, now a minister in the Cabinet Office. After its publication, Simons stated that he was “shocked” by the emergence of unnecessary personal information and allegedly requested its removal before handing the report over to GCHQ. Nevertheless, according to media reports, some of the materials were passed on to the intelligence agencies.
The scandal has taken on particular urgency because Labour Together is considered a key organization that helped Keir Starmer gain power in the party in 2020 and subsequently win the general election. Previously (in 2021), the organization was fined £14,250 by the Electoral Commission for undeclared donations of £730,000 between 2017 and 2020—a finding reported by journalists.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly stated that he “knew nothing” about the contents of the APCO report and instructed the Cabinet Office to conduct an investigation. However, the opposition and some media outlets are calling the investigation a “self-assessment” because the key figure, Minister Josh Symons, works in the Cabinet Office. The Liberal Democrats are demanding that Symons temporarily step down pending the investigation.