A lobbyist who examined journalists on behalf of an influential thinktank has now been accused of recently investigating a Guardian reporter.
Tom Harper, a senior director at the US public affairs company Apco, was the author of a 58-page report examining the journalists behind a 2023 Sunday Times story about undisclosed donations to Labour Together, the thinktank that was instrumental in Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership victory.
His report, which was commissioned by the thinkthank, claimed – without evidence – that the story was based on data hacked from the Electoral Commission, which it linked to Russia.
The report also examined the religious and ideological positions of some of the journalists and sources involved.
According to the Sunday Times, Harper has since been examining Henry Dyer, an investigations correspondent at the Guardian, who has been reporting on the revelations. It said Harper had been making inquiries about Dyer as recently as last week, and suggesting – without any evidence – he could have been part of a wider pro-Russia campaign.
Apco was contacted for comment. It is already being investigated by the standards committee of the Public Relations and Communications Association, a trade body for the PR industry, over its research into journalists.
The political fallout over Labour Together’s decision to commission the research is also continuing. Josh Simons, now a Cabinet Office minister, was director of Labour Together when it paid Apco £36,000 to investigate the “sourcing, funding and origin” behind the story examining its political donations.
There are now calls across the political spectrum for Starmer to sack Simons. It follows a Guardian report that Simons accused journalists of having links to Russian intelligence. He is already the subject of a Whitehall ethics inquiry over the affair.
An investigation revealed Simons had falsely concluded journalists investigating Labour Together’s donations had obtained information about the thinktank from a Russian hack.
Simons was also involved in telling security officials that one journalist was “living with” the daughter of a former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn. Officials were told by Simons’ team that the former adviser was “suspected of links to Russian intelligence”.
The disclosures are contained in emails that Simons and his chief of staff at Labour Together sent to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a division of the spy agency GCHQ, in 2024. A spokesperson for Simons said: “These claims are untrue.”
Labour Together has been hugely influential within the party. It was originally headed by Morgan McSweeney, who recently resigned as Starmer’s chief of staff amid the fallout from Peter Mandelson’s ill-fated appointment as Britain’s US ambassador.
McSweeney used Labour Together as a vehicle to build a strategy and machine that could replace Corbyn as leader and wrest control of the party away from the former Labour leader’s allies and supporters.
The thinktank’s decision to commission Apco’s investigation was revealed by the Democracy for Sale publication earlier this month.
It commissioned the research after a critical story in 2023, which revealed fresh details about £730,000 of undeclared donations to Labour Together, which was run by McSweeney at the time of the gifts.
The Electoral Commission had fined the thinktank more than £14,000 for failing to declare the funding.
The Apco report examined two Sunday Times journalists and the potential sources of the story. Ten pages of Harper’s report were about Gabriel Pogrund, a Sunday Times journalist. It talked about his faith, as well as claims – without evidence – that some of his stories had come from pro-Russia actors.
In 2024, Simons forwarded a shorter version of the report to GCHQ. It did not contain the section about Pogrund.
Paul Holden, a freelance journalist who provided the Sunday Times with documents for their original report on Labour Together’s donations, recently showed the Guardian his source materials. They indicate the story was actually based on files leaked from the Labour party by whistleblowers.
A spokesperson for Josh Simons has said: “Labour Together commissioned Apco to investigate the information Paul Holden obtained for his book, as has repeatedly been made clear.”
