Ministers are attempting to circle the wagons around Keir Starmer's chief of staff today amid more questions over 'hidden' donations.
The crisis engulfing Morgan McSweeney deepened after an email shed new light on a notorious episode in which his think-tank was fined in 2021 for 20 breaches of electoral law involving undeclared donations.
The email from the lawyer advised Mr McSweeney to drop his unsubstantiated claim that he had been told donations totalling £739,492 to Labour Together did not have to be declared. It warned him that unless he could back up the claim with evidence, it risked antagonising the Electoral Commission, which was investigating the scandal.
It told him instead to try to pass the episode off as a simple 'admin error'.
The message, seen by the Daily Mail, was published in full last night by the Conservatives, who stepped up calls for the police to investigate the affair.
