Sir Keir Starmer is facing the growing threat of a Commons sleaze investigation after leaked text messages suggested a secret slush fund used to propel him to the Labour leadership was concealed from Parliament.
The WhatsApp messages, which were exchanged between senior Labour MPs and workers on the 2019/20 leadership campaigns, appear to directly contradict the party’s denials last week that embattled Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, used his Labour Together think tank to back Sir Keir.
One message, from a Starmer campaign aide to Labour MPs, read: ‘Labour together [sic] are busy finding funders for Keir’s campaign.’
Tonight, the leaks to The Mail on Sunday prompted the Tories to demand a full investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into whether Sir Keir had misled Parliament by failing to declare the help of the think tank in official records.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Starmer is so weak he is ignoring the mounting evidence against his Chief of Staff because he is scared of losing the man who got him into Downing Street.’
It comes as the author of a new book on the Labour leadership, which has stoked controversy over the roles played by Mr McSweeney and Labour Together, claimed that the think tank had set private detectives on him.
Paul Holden, author of The Fraud, said he had been ‘pretty damn scared’ after being told that the private agents were ‘looking into you and your family and your colleagues’ at the request of Labour Together.
The row blew up as Sir Keir arrived at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, with the party slumping in the polls and leadership rivals, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, circling.
Sir Keir Starmer (right) is facing the growing threat of a Commons sleaze investigation after a series of leaked texts appear to contradict Labour’s denials that Morgan McSweeney (left), used his think tank to back the now-Prime Minister
This newspaper revealed last week that Mr McSweeney had received private legal advice over the failure to declare more than £700,000 of donations to Labour Together, with a party lawyer advising him to present the episode as an ‘admin error’.
The Electoral Commission has faced a backlash for throwing out calls for a fresh investigation because a loophole in the law means there is no prospect of bringing criminal charges.
No 10 insists that the Labour Together group had no role in Sir Keir’s leadership campaign, with a source saying last week: ‘Neither Keir, nor his leadership campaign accepted monetary or in kind donations from Labour Together during the leadership election.’
Under parliamentary rules, Sir Keir was required to register all support he received – including support ‘in kind’ – but there is no mention of Labour Together in his Register Of Members’ Interests for the period of the campaign.
The leaked WhatsApp messages were exchanged among members of the Tribune group of Labour MPs and Peers just days after the resignation of defeated leader Jeremy Corbyn triggered the contest.
Members include current Education Minister Seema Malhotra, Home Office Minister Baron Hanson, Baroness Lyn Brown and former Employment Minister Justin Madders. Although he was not included in the messages, Sir Keir was a member of the caucus.
After the Starmer campaign aide states that ‘Labour together [sic] are busy finding funds for Keir’s campaign’ – at a time when the group was being funded by secret donations from Labour donors – members of the group discuss their concern at being sidelined.
After the aide said it was ‘weird’ that Labour Together was finding funding for Sir Keir’s campaign, given that Lisa Nandy – now Culture Secretary, but at the time running for the leadership – was on the board of the think tank, a Labour MP, who was part of the Tribune group, responds: ‘We are the biggest group of Labour MPs. Why wasn’t Tribune approached?’ A third MP then says: ‘Labour Together have money and we don’t.’
Sources said Labour Together was designed, almost from the moment Mr McSweeney took over, as the vehicle for the leadership campaign for whoever replaced Mr Corbyn.
A source added: ‘Labour Together was basically a donors’ vehicle. It was a way of channelling funds from the donors who backed Labour but didn’t want their money going to the party when Corbyn was there.
Mr McSweeney is pictured working at Sir Keir’s campaign HQ during the Labour leadership contest in 2020
Mr McSweeney was spotted arriving at his hotel in Liverpool ahead of the Labour Party Conference which begins on Sunday
‘It was the Keir Starmer shadow campaign vehicle. And then when Corbyn lost it just became the public campaign vehicle. A lot of the MPs were basically being kept in the dark. We had no idea about the donations. No one did.
‘I genuinely thought it was an error. But then it started to become clear what the real purpose of Labour Together was. It was all smoke and mirrors. They were using us to be the face of the organisation above the line. But below the water they were plotting something else. We were all played for suckers.
‘Lisa Nandy was furious. She was a member of the board. She was standing for the leadership herself. And the whole organisation suddenly moved in behind Starmer.’
Tory Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘These messages expose Morgan McSweeney’s shadowy and law-breaking operation, Labour Together, which was secretly raising a slush fund to install Keir Starmer as Labour leader – while stabbing other Labour MPs in the back.
‘Throughout this period, not a single penny of donations or support in kind from Labour Together was declared by the Prime Minister to Parliament, as the rules clearly require.
‘The evidence is mounting that the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff orchestrated an industrial-scale cover-up of hundreds of thousands of pounds. We will be submitting this new material to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner as a matter of urgency.
‘This scandal goes to the very core of Sir Keir Starmer’s judgement and integrity. He should grow a backbone, sack his Chief of Staff, come clean with Parliament about the extent of the support he has received and publish the McSweeney files immediately.’
Ms Badenoch said: ‘Every time one of his appointees is embroiled in scandal, Keir Starmer looks the other way. He did it on Rayner, he did it on Mandelson, and he’s doing it with McSweeney.
‘Starmer is so weak he is ignoring the mounting evidence against his Chief of Staff, because he’s scared of losing the man who got him into Downing Street. Meanwhile we have a Prime Minister distracted from the huge economic challenges the country is facing and with no plan to fix our border crisis.’
A Labour spokesman said: ‘The Conservatives have zero answers to the challenges faced by working people. In a pathetic and desperate attempt to stay relevant, their only hope is to throw mud at the wall and hope something sticks.
‘This Labour government is solely focused on fixing the mess left by the Tories, and renewing Britain – to make people right across the country better off.’
