Politics live: Starmer says he didn't know' about Labour Together smear campaign

"We want a just and lasting peace, but that will not extinguish the Russian threat, and we need to be alert to that, because that's going to affect every single person in this room, every single person in this country, so we need to step up. That means on defence spending, we need to go faster. We've obviously made commitments already in relation to that."

"Apco was paid 36,000 to carry out the investigation in 2023. The paper said it contained pages of deeply personal and false claims about one of the journalists, Gabriel Pogrund. It also discussed his Jewish background and included false claims about personal and professional relationships. It was also reported to have made baseless claims that the emails underpinning the journalists' story were likely to have come from a hack of the Electoral Commission, suspected to have been carried out by the Kremlin."

The UK faces mounting global instability and an ongoing Russian threat that could affect every person in the country. Defence spending needs to increase more rapidly, with consideration given to bringing forward the target of 3% of GDP to 2029 and an emphasis on coordination with like-minded European partners. Commitments on defence funding already exist, but strategic collaboration and speed are framed as equally important. A separate 2023 PR investigation by Apco reportedly cost 36,000 and allegedly contained deeply personal and false claims about journalist Gabriel Pogrund, including references to his Jewish background and false relationships. The investigation's contents were reportedly shared with Labour figures in 2024, creating political pressure and scrutiny on the minister who commissioned the report.

Read at www.independent.co.uk