Exclusive: Material gathered was personally given to Josh Simons when chair of pro-Starmer thinktank, say sources
A Labour minister was provided with intelligence files gathered on journalists investigating the thinktank that helped propel Keir Starmer to power, the Guardian has learned.
The documents were personally given to Josh Simons, now a minister in the Cabinet Office, when he was chair of Labour Together, according to sources.
Simons is close to the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who had previously run Labour Together and whose own role in the operation to gather material on journalists is under scrutiny.
The files contained reports produced by the PR firm APCO Worldwide on journalists at outlets including the Guardian and the Sunday Times who had reported on irregularities in the thinktank’s funding. APCO also sought to identify the journalists’ sources.
