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#1

Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 04:16:31 PM

Love The Remains of the Day.

Also off the top of my head not sure I can think of a better/higher quality book and movie combo. Both fantastic.

[The group that helped to get Sir Keir Starmer elected as Labour leader hired lobbyists to investigate the personal, political and religious background of a Sunday Times journalist behind an article about secret donations that funded its work.]

#2

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:56:30 PM

On very prosaic British politics - this story is wild. And I think quite dangerous in a democratic society - this seems very Orban/Erdogan-ish. Commission opposition research on a journalist that alleges without any basis Russian involvement, then pass it on to the intelligence agencies (who don't do anything about it because it's baseless) so you can then brief rumours about that reporter having dodgy sources/motivations that the intelligence agencies know about.

The number of stories about Labour Together plus the other stuff in recent weeks and I get that all Labour factions mainly care about their fights with other factions of the Labour Party to the exclusion of literally anything else. But I feel like there are problems with the Labour Right:

Labour activists paid for smear campaign against journalists
Labour Together, the group that helped make Keir Starmer leader, hired lobbyists who falsely suggested reporters were linked to Russia
Emanuele Midolo, Investigations Reporter
Saturday February 14 2026, 8.30pm, The Sunday Times

The lobbyists were commissioned after a Sunday Times article that posed questions of Morgan McSweeney, left
THOMAS KRYCH/STORY PICTURE AGENCY/SHUTTERSTOCK

The group that helped to get Sir Keir Starmer elected as Labour leader hired lobbyists to investigate the personal, political and religious background of a Sunday Times journalist behind an article about secret donations that funded its work.

Labour Together paid £36,000 to Apco, a US public affairs firm, to examine the "backgrounds and motivations" of reporters behind a story before the general election.

The aim was to discredit The Sunday Times's reporting by falsely suggesting its journalists might be part of a Russian conspiracy or had relied on emails hacked by the Kremlin.

Apco produced a 58-page report including almost ten pages of deeply personal and false claims about Gabriel Pogrund, the Sunday Times Whitehall editor. He and Harry Yorke, the newspaper's deputy political editor, were named as "persons of significant interest".

The report's contents were informally shared with Labour figures in 2024 including present cabinet ministers and special advisers, forming the basis of a whispering campaign in Westminster against Pogrund, Yorke and The Sunday Times.

Labour Together engaged Apco in November 2023 when The Sunday Times revealed that the group had failed to declare £730,000 of donations between 2017 and 2020. The Electoral Commission found the group guilty of 20 breaches of campaign finance laws and issued a fine in 2021.

The Sunday Times report posed questions of Morgan McSweeney, who quit last week as Starmer's chief of staff. At the time, McSweeney had been responsible for making the declarations as chief executive. The article also questioned whether the oversight had been deliberate to cover up the extent of fundraising from other factions, including the left.

Days after the article appeared, Josh Simons, who had by then succeeded McSweeney as head of Labour Together and is now a Cabinet Office minister, commissioned Apco to look into it. McSweeney was aware of the decision. The Sunday Times has a copy of the full report, dated January 2024, codenamed "Operation Cannon" and marked "private and confidential". It was prepared by Tom Harper, Apco's senior director and a former Sunday Times employee. Labour Together has admitted hiring the firm but the details of its report — and the scale of Apco's efforts to discredit the story — have never been told.

Contemporaneous documents seen by The Sunday Times show one of the prime minister's closest aides and another government special adviser were among those who repeated — and appeared to believe — the report's contents.

Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, described the report as "appalling" and a form of "harassment and intimidation" of a free press. It is likely to form part of an inquiry into Apco by the lobbying industry's professional body.

Baseless Russia allegations

Harper wrote that he had examined the "sourcing, funding and origins of The Sunday Times story" using documents and "discreet human source enquiries".

He then sought to portray Pogrund and Yorke as part of a Russian campaign to damage Starmer.

He alleged, without evidence, that the emails which underpinned the published story were likely to have emerged from a suspected Kremlin hack of the Electoral Commission.

"The likeliest culprit is the Russian state, or proxies of the Russian state," he wrote.

There is no evidence that Harper considered an alternative scenario or at any point sought basic IT or cybersecurity expertise. Apco is not a cybersecurity company.

Apco's report included baseless claims about Pogrund's faith, upbringing and personal and professional relationships. It referenced the journalist's status as a Jew, quoting a supposed Sunday Times source who alleged there was an "odd" mismatch between Pogrund's faith and what they falsely described as his political and ideological position.

The report said Pogrund's reporting on other matters — including the royal family — "could be seen as destabilising to the UK and also in the interests of Russia's strategic foreign policy objectives". Harper also falsely claimed that previous stories had come from pro-Russian actors.

Pogrund was and remains sanctioned by Russia, which included him on a no-travel list as tensions grew after the invasion of Ukraine. He was not made aware of Apco's work. Nor was Yorke, who was also linked to the alleged foreign interference.

Claims shared with GCHQ

Apco also investigated Paul Holden, a South African investigative journalist who supplied material used in the Sunday Times story, and who recently published a book called The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy. It examined Matt Taibbi, an American reporter and writer, who had written articles with him. Harper wrote: "We have examined the sourcing, funding and origins of the Sunday Times story — plus the forthcoming works by Paul Holden and Matt Taibbi — to establish who and what are behind the attacks on Labour Together."

A shorter version of the report — stripped of the personal claims about Pogrund but with a section on "The Sunday Times article" — was shared with the National Cyber Security Council, part of GCHQ, which declined to launch a full investigation.

Labour Together, however, used the fact of the GCHQ referral to create suspicion about the story and its sources, with cabinet ministers and special advisers among those who quietly alleged the report was linked to the Russian state.

Steve Reed, the housing secretary, and Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, were among the legal directors of Labour Together for most of the period in which funds were not reported. There is no suggestion they were responsible for compliance with electoral law at the time.

Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, said: "The freedom of the press and the ability of journalists to work free from harassment and intimidation is a vital foundation of our free society. That anybody thought they could do this is absolutely appalling and raises further questions about the role played by Labour Together in bringing Keir Starmer to the leadership of his party."

McSweeney has never publicly explained why he did not declare the donations or heed warnings by members of Labour Together's executive. Labour Together dismissed the matter as an "admin error".

Internal emails published by the Conservatives last year reveal McSweeney was advised by a party lawyer to use this phrase if he could not give a better explanation.

Josh Simons, now the Labour MP for Makerfield in Greater Manchester, said Apco had strayed beyond its brief. He said: "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. No other British journalists were investigated in any document I or Labour Together ever received."

He said he welcomed the investigation launched last week by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA).

'This is dark s***'

The revelations pose questions of Starmer, who has spoken of the importance of press freedom. He has never spoken about his relationship with Labour Together or its donors such as Martin Taylor, a hedge fund manager who made his fortune at Nevsky Capital, a £1.5 billion Cayman Islands fund known for investing in Russian companies such as Gazprom, and Sir Trevor Chinn, a businessman.

The former Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who helped found Labour Together in 2015, told the investigative website Democracy for Sale — which first broke the story of the investigation — that the revelations were "shocking" and "extraordinary".

"I have heard of black briefings, but never heard of anything like this," Cruddas said. "This is dark shit."

Alison Phillips, now head of Labour Together, said the group was "ready to support the PRCA — and other relevant governance bodies — with its review of this issue."

Apco did not respond to requests for comment.

#3

Off the Record / Re: The Miscellaneous Sports T...

Last post by Duque de Bragança - Today at 03:40:24 PM

And apparently the French live their biathalon.  I saw today that 12 of the 15 biathalon medals awarded to far went to either Norway or France.

Fourcade made biathlon famous in France.

[Jew Süss]

#4

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Duque de Bragança - Today at 03:38:40 PM

I feel like the only thing more dodge than going to a Riefenstahl scrrening is having a solo Riefenstahl screening in a private booth

 

We were talking about the BFI Railway transport films compilation blueray, not the nazi stuff. 

 

Good to see that public screenings of masterpieces such as Jew Süss

I feel like the only thing more dodge than going to a Riefenstahl scrrening is having a solo Riefenstahl screening in a private booth

I wonder if watching the blu-ray of Triumph of the Will in the privacy of your home does count. 

Already attended public screenings of Olympia at the Cinémathèque for the Olympic Games of Paris a couple of year ago:

https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/154395.html
https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/40226.html

Killer double bill. 

#5

Off the Record / Re: The Miscellaneous Sports T...

Last post by Syt - Today at 03:37:54 PM

Germany used to be great at biathlon. But we got three gold medals in luge, so there's that ...

#6

Off the Record / Re: The Miscellaneous Sports T...

Last post by Baron von Schtinkenbutt - Today at 03:35:12 PM

And apparently the French live their biathalon.  I saw today that 12 of the 15 biathalon medals awarded to far went to either Norway or France.

#7

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by mongers - Today at 03:31:17 PM

I feel like the only thing more dodge than going to a Riefenstahl scrrening is having a solo Riefenstahl screening in a private booth

 

We were talking about the BFI Railway transport films compilation blueray, not the nazi stuff. 

#8

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Zoupa - Today at 03:30:49 PM

I'm not sure how "let's see what the investigation reveals" is so egregious?

Jesus Christ folks.

#9

Off the Record / Re: US - Greenland Crisis Thre...

Last post by Zoupa - Today at 03:25:47 PM

Poland operates a multi fighter type airforce. It's fine.

#10

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:19:28 PM

I feel like the only thing more dodge than going to a Riefenstahl scrrening is having a solo Riefenstahl screening in a private booth