Tories demand inquiry into claims Labour's McSweeney misled elections watchdog

"The Conservatives have called for an investigation into Keir Starmer's beleaguered chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, after allegations that he tried to mislead the elections watchdog over donations to a Labour thinktank he ran while in opposition. The organisation, Labour Together, was fined 14,250 by the Electoral Commission in 2021 over its handling of almost 740,000 of donations. The Tories have claimed that it used a false excuse of administrative errors."

"They have now released a leaked email from the top Labour lawyer Gerald Shamash, in which he advises McSweeney to drop his claim that he had been told he did not have to declare the donations, adding that he hoped to minimise publicity for the rule breach. My advice, but it is in practice the only realistic route, we are being and have to be seen as transparent as possible, Shamash wrote."

"The amounts of the late reported donations is 739,492 and there are, in my view, no easy way to explain how Labour Together finds itself in this situation. If Labour Together cannot deal substantively with questions I pose then perhaps simply best to base our case as to the non-reporting down as admin error. It was only after McSweeney's departure from the organisation that his replacement, Hannah O'Rourke, found almost three years of donations had not been declared."

Morgan McSweeney is accused of attempting to mislead the Electoral Commission about donations to Labour Together, a thinktank he ran while in opposition. Labour Together was fined 14,250 in 2021 for mishandling almost 740,000 of donations. Leaked emails from Labour lawyer Gerald Shamash advise dropping a claim that McSweeney had been told he did not have to declare the donations and suggest framing the issue as an administrative error to minimise publicity. Hannah O'Rourke later discovered almost three years of undeclared donations and filed late declarations. McSweeney left the thinktank in April 2020 and now faces renewed scrutiny amid internal party unrest.

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