Tories demand investigation into McSweeney over think tank donations

A Tory demand for an investigation into Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeny has been dismissed as “muckracking” by the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Conservatives have called for the Electoral Commission – and potentially the police – to look into the handling of donations to Labour Together, the campaign group Mr McSweeney was previously director of.

The organisation was fined by the elections watchdog over its handling of donations in 2021, but the Tories claimed leaked emails suggested Mr McSweeney had sought to mislead the commission.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told Times Radio: “In opposition, 14 years in opposition, Labour Together was one of a group of organisations designed to get the Labour Party back in the groove with the British people and positioned to win once more and Labour Together was integral in achieving.”

He added: “I’m not surprised that the Tories are muckraking. I’m not surprised that they’re attempting to destabilise an organisation that played that role.

“But I really don’t believe that there’s anything to see here. And certainly my contact with Labour Together was really about policy and about policy that would set us up to win the general election, as we went on to do.”

The Tories said leaked emails they had obtained, as reported by the Mail on Sunday, suggested Mr McSweeney had attempted to cover-up the late reporting of donations as an administrative error and sought to minimise publicity for the breach in the rules.

But in a letter to the Electoral Commission, the Conservatives said the implication was they “chose not to report those donations” to stop the then Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party knowing “who was bankrolling their secretive political campaigning, and to keep their work below the political radar”.

The Tories suggested that once the Electoral Commission was investigating the case, “a false excuse of administrative errors was concocted to minimise the sanctions they faced and the bad publicity” while “Morgan McSweeney’s name was airbrushed out of the picture”.

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “These revelations are deeply serious and strike at the very soul of Keir Starmer’s judgement and integrity.

“The Prime Minister’s own chief of staff has been caught red-handed hiding political donations from Labour Together and misleading the Electoral Commission.

“Serious questions now arise over whether unlawful funds were used to propel Starmer into the Labour leadership – and why those at the centre of this murky operation were later rewarded with senior, taxpayer-funded roles in Government.

“This has all the hallmarks of yet another Labour scandal: secrecy, sleaze and cover-ups.”

The Electoral Commission found a series of breaches by the group over almost £740,000 in donations and hit it with a £14,250 fine in September 2021.

Mr McSweeney had left his role in April 2020 to become a senior aide to Sir Keir in opposition and then in government.

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.”

An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said: “The commission thoroughly investigated the late reporting of donations by Labour Together and published our findings in 2021.

“We were satisfied that the evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that failures by the association occurred without reasonable excuse. Offences were determined and they were sanctioned accordingly.”

The row comes ahead of the publication of The Fraud, by journalist Paul Holden, next month, which is likely to focus on Mr McSweeney’s role.

He told the PA news agency that “a lot more revelations” about senior figures at the heart of Sir Keir’s government will come to light as a result of its publication.