Sir Keir Starmer has instructed the independent adviser on ministerial standards to investigate a cabinet office minister following allegations linked to a Labour-affiliated think tank. The move comes after claims that Labour Together paid a public relations firm to investigate journalists who had reported on the organisation’s funding disclosures.
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Josh Simons, who previously ran Labour Together before entering government, has faced calls to step down after reports that the think tank commissioned a £36,000 inquiry into the personal backgrounds of journalists in 2023. The investigation was said to target reporters from several national newspapers who had covered the group’s failure to declare substantial donations.
Addressing the House of Commons, the prime minister’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, confirmed that civil servants in the Cabinet Office had completed an initial fact-finding exercise. He said the findings had been passed to the prime minister, who had now referred the matter to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent standards adviser, for further assessment. Mr Jones stressed that freedom of the press is a cornerstone of democracy and said the government remains committed to protecting it.
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The think tank was previously fined by the Electoral Commission for late reporting of donations totalling more than £700,000. Critics have argued that the reported investigation into journalists amounted to an attempt to discredit and intimidate the press. The prime minister is expected to make a decision once he receives the adviser’s findings, which are to be published in line with standard procedures.
