A lobbyist who examined journalists on behalf of an influential thinktank has now been accused of recently investigating a Guardian reporter.<\/p>\n
Tom Harper, a senior director at the US public affairs company Apco, was the author of a 58-page report examining the journalists behind a 2023 Sunday Times<\/a> story about undisclosed donations to Labour Together, the thinktank that was instrumental in Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour leadership victory.<\/p>\n His report, which was commissioned by the thinkthank, claimed \u2013 without evidence \u2013 that the story was based on data hacked from the Electoral Commission, which it linked to Russia.<\/p>\n Tom Harper<\/p>\n The report also examined the religious and ideological positions of some of the journalists and sources involved.<\/p>\n According to the Sunday Times<\/a>, Harper has since been examining Henry Dyer, an investigations correspondent at the Guardian, who has been reporting on the revelations<\/a>. It said Harper had been making inquiries about Dyer as recently as last week, and suggesting \u2013 without any evidence \u2013 he could have been part of a wider pro-Russia campaign.<\/p>\n Apco was contacted for comment. It is already being investigated by the standards committee of the Public Relations and Communications Association, a trade body for the PR industry, over its research into journalists.<\/p>\n The political fallout over Labour Together\u2019s decision to commission the research is also continuing. Josh Simons, now a Cabinet Office minister, was director of Labour Together when it paid Apco \u00a336,000 to investigate the \u201csourcing, funding and origin\u201d<\/a> behind the story examining its political donations.<\/p>\n There are calls across the political spectrum for Starmer to sack Simons<\/a>. It follows a Guardian report that Simons accused journalists of having links to Russian intelligence. He is already the subject of a Whitehall ethics inquiry over the affair.<\/p>\n An investigation revealed Simons had falsely concluded journalists investigating Labour<\/a> Together\u2019s donations had obtained information about the thinktank from a Russian hack.<\/p>\n Simons was also involved in telling security officials that one journalist was \u201cliving with\u201d the daughter of a former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn. Officials were told by Simons\u2019 team that the former adviser was \u201csuspected of links to Russian intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n The disclosures are contained in emails that Simons and his chief of staff at Labour Together sent to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a division of the spy agency GCHQ<\/a>, in 2024. A spokesperson for Simons said: \u201cThese claims are untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour Together has been hugely influential within the party. It was originally headed by Morgan McSweeney, who recently resigned as Starmer\u2019s chief of staff<\/a> amid the fallout from Peter Mandelson\u2019s ill-fated appointment as Britain\u2019s US ambassador.<\/p>\n McSweeney used Labour Together as a vehicle to build a strategy and machine that could replace Corbyn as leader and wrest control of the party away from the former Labour leader\u2019s allies and supporters.<\/p>\n