Labour think tank commissioned firm to investigate journalists, BBC understands

A Labour group which helped Sir Keir Starmer get elected as Labour leader commissioned a report that investigated the personal and religious background of a Sunday Times journalist, the BBC understands.

Labour Together paid APCO Worldwide at least £30,000 to "investigate the sourcing, funding and origins" of a story about undeclared donations at the think tank before the general election.

It delivered a report, codenamed "Operation Cannon", which included claims about a journalist who wrote the story and his faith, relationships and upbringing.

Sources told the BBC the US public affairs firm's report included information about journalist Gabriel Pogrund's Jewish beliefs and claims about his ideological position.

It also claimed, the sources said, that Pogrund's previous reporting, including on the royal family, "could be seen as destabilising to the UK and also in the interests of Russia's strategic foreign policy objectives".

Pogrund is currently the Sunday Times Whitehall editor, and was named Political Journalist of the Year and News Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Press Awards.

The report was allegedly prepared by a former Sunday Times employee who now works for APCO Worldwide.

It was commissioned by the then-head of Labour Together, Josh Simons, who is now a Cabinet Office minister.

In a contract addressed to Simons, seen by BBC News, APCO Worldwide agreed to investigate "the sourcing, funding and origins" of the Sunday Times reporting, as well the journalist, Paul Holden, who has since published a critical book on Keir Starmer and his former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, and Matt Taibbi, an American reporter.

McSweeney was a former head of Labour Together.

Josh Simons said APCO Worldwide had gone beyond what was asked of them and welcomed an investigation launched by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA).

"I was surprised and shocked to read the report extended beyond the contract by including unnecessary information on Gabriel Pogrund. I asked for this information to be removed before passing the report to GCHQ," he said.

A redacted version of the report, with the details about Pogrund removed, was passed to the National Cyber Security Centre because of the concerns about the hack, sources close to Simons said.

They added he had not shared the report with anyone else outside of Labour Together.

Alison Phillips, the CEO of Labour Together, and who joined after the APCO report was commissioned and delivered, said: "I am committed to ensuring Labour Together aspires to the highest standards of probity at all times.

"We stand ready to support the PRCA [and other relevant governance bodies] with its review of this issue."

Some Labour MPs have expressed their concerns about the story.

Karl Turner, the Labour MP for East Hull, said the prime minister should look into the matter.

"Plausible deniability is only plausible until it isn't," he posted on X.

The former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, said he had repeatedly asked Labour's general secretary, Hollie Ridley, for an independent inquiry into the claims.

"[It's] clear to me as Secretary of the NUJ's [National Union of Journalist's] Parliamentary Group if true this is unacceptable," he posted.