Tories call for inquiry into Labour Together support for Starmer

The Conservatives have called for an investigation into whether Sir Keir Starmer failed to declare support from the think tank Labour Together during his 2020 leadership bid.

In a letter to Parliament’s standards commissioner, Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said details had come to light suggesting Sir Keir received polling and speechwriting help from the group – run at the time by Morgan McSweeney, now his chief of staff.

Anyone can file a complaint to the watchdog, but only the commissioner can decide whether to launch an inquiry.

A Labour source said: “Neither Keir, nor his leadership campaign accepted monetary or in kind donations from Labour Together during the leadership election.”

A Downing Street source said “everything was declared properly in relation to the leadership election”.

Hollinrake claimed publicly available information and details published in Get In – a book by journalists from the Times newspaper on the prime minister’s rise to power – showed Labour Together gave Sir Keir polling, messaging and speechwriting help as he competed to take over from Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

Over the same period Sir Keir listed support from some Labour Together backers in his parliamentary register of interests, but not any “donations in kind” from the group itself.

After winning the Labour leadership, Sir Keir hired Mr McSweeney as his chief of staff. Since then, Mr McSweeney has become a central figure in Sir Keir’s project to reform the party.

Hollinrake said the absence of any declarations had “all the hallmarks of yet another Downing Street cover up”.

He urged Sir Keir to “come clean and be transparent” about support he had received from Labour Together.

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook dismissed the allegations, saying it was “yet more mudslinging” from the Conservatives “in a desperate bid to stay relevant as a party”.

He told Times Radio: “Obviously, if anyone wants to make a reference to the commissioner for parliamentary standards, they will investigate any alleged breaches.

“I think in this instance, it will be a very simple and short investigation, because everything has been properly declared.”

The letter follows calls by the Conservatives for the Electoral Commission, and potentially the police, to look into the handling of donations to Labour Together while Mr McSweeney was its director.

The organisation was fined £14,250 by the elections watchdog over its handling of almost £740,000 in donations in 2021.

Over the weekend, several newspapers reported on alleged leaked emails suggesting Mr McSweeney had sought to mislead the commission.

Mr McSweeney has been approached for comment.

The Electoral Commission said it was considering the information shared by the Conservative Party and would “respond in due course”.

In response to the reports over the weekend, a Labour Together spokesman said: “Labour Together proactively raised concerns about its own reporting of donations to the Electoral Commission in 2020.

“The Electoral Commission’s investigation, with which Labour Together fully co-operated, was completed in 2021. The outcome was made public and widely covered by the media at the time.

“Since this time, we have taken measures to ensure Labour Together is fully compliant with all Electoral Commission regulations.”