"The research was paid for and subsequently reviewed by Simons when he was director of Labour Together, according to sources and documents seen by the Guardian. In an agreement addressed to Simons, drawn up by Apco Worldwide, the PR consultancy agreed to investigate the sourcing, funding and origins of a November 2023 Sunday Times report about the thinktank, in addition to other journalistic investigations into the group. The Sunday Times reported that the contents of Apco's investigation were informally shared with Labour figures in 2024, including present cabinet ministers and special advisers."
"The report contained allegations about Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke, journalists at the paper, which then spread around Westminster. The paper reported that Tom Harper, Apco's senior director and a former Sunday Times employee, wrote that he had examined the sourcing, funding and origins of the Sunday Times story using documents and discreet human source enquiries. Harper was said to have made baseless claims that the emails underpinning the published story were likely to have come from a suspected Kremlin hack of the Electoral Commission."
MPs are calling for an inquiry into the commissioning of a report that made baseless claims about journalists investigating Labour Together, a thinktank linked to the prime minister. The report was commissioned in 2023 and was paid for and subsequently reviewed by Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons when he was director of Labour Together. Apco Worldwide agreed to investigate the sourcing, funding and origins of a November 2023 Sunday Times report and other journalistic probes. Apco's findings were reportedly shared informally with Labour figures in 2024. The report contained allegations targeting journalists Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke, including claims linking leaked emails to a suspected Kremlin hack and referencing Pogrund's Jewish background with baseless personal allegations.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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