The minister and the alleged smear campaign: key unanswered questions

Josh Simons, who is at centre of scandal in which journalists were falsely linked to a ‘pro-Kremlin’ network, faces questions over candour of his statements

The Cabinet Office minister at the centre of a growing scandal over an alleged smear campaign in which he falsely linked journalists to a “pro-Kremlin” network is facing mounting questions over the candour of his public statements.

Josh Simons ran Labour Together, a thinktank that faced press scrutiny in November 2023 over £730,000 in undeclared political donations.

Simons commissioned an American public affairs company, Apco, to investigate the sourcing of the story, which appeared in the Sunday Times. The story was based on documents obtained by the freelance journalist Paul Holden, which were due to feature in further stories published by an American journalist, Matt Taibbi.

The Labour minister has conceded that Apco “never fully got to the bottom” of the sourcing of the story. But in January 2024, after receiving the PR firm’s report, Simons emailed the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a division of GCHQ, and falsely linked a number of journalists to a hack of the Electoral Commission and Russian propaganda. Here are the key unanswered questions.

1. Why did Simons say Apco was hired to investigate an ‘illegal hack’?

One of Simons’ first public comments since the story broke this month was a flippant tweet on 6 February in which he said: “A thinktank paid a PR firm to find out if it’s private [information] were obtained through an illegal hack. HOWZATT”.

However, the contract Apco agreed with Labour Together made no reference to a suspected hack. Apco is a reputation-management company, not a specialist in cybersecurity investigations. The contract stipulated that Apco would, for £36,000, provide “a body of evidence that could be packaged up for use in the media in order to create narratives that would proactively undermine any future attacks on Labour Together”.

Did Labour Together really commission Apco to investigate a hack? And if so, why was that not mentioned in the contract?

2. Why did he say Apco’s investigation had ‘nothing to do’ with the Sunday Times?

Simons also tweeted on 6 February: “Apco were asked to look into a suspected illegal hack, which had nothing to do with UK journalists at Sunday Times, Guardian or any other brilliant UK newspaper. Apco’s investigation never fully got to the bottom of this.”

Simons’ contract with Apco explicitly mentions the Sunday Times, stating the firm should “investigate the sourcing, funding and origins of a Sunday Times article about Labour Together, as well as upcoming works by authors Paul Holden and Matt Taibbi to establish who and what are behind the coordinated attacks on Labour Together”.

If Apco’s investigation never got to the bottom of the sourcing of the story, why did Simons report the journalists to the NCSC? And if the matter had “nothing to do” with the Sunday Times, why did Simons reference the Sunday Times – and name two of its journalists, Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke – in emails to the NCSC?

3. Why was it claimed the Apco report only contained information about one journalist?

On 11 February, a government source close to Simons provided the Guardian with a statement on background, presumably approved by the minister, which said: “Labour Together never received a report with information about any journalist other than Gabriel Pogrund.”

However, the Apco report is understood to have contained information about at least three other journalists: Holden, who is member of the National Union of Journalists, Taibbi and Andrew Murray, who was at the time a journalist at the Morning Star.

Does Simons now accept the Apco report contained information about several journalists? If so, why has he not corrected the record?

4. What was ‘untrue’ about the Guardian’s report about Simons' emails with the NCSC?

On 20 February, the Guardian reported details of Simons’ communications with the NCSC, quoting from emails that he and his then chief of staff, Ben Szreter, exchanged with officials. In response to that story, a spokesperson for the minister said: “These claims are untrue.”

The spokesperson declined to say on the record what about the Guardian report was disputed. The Guardian is today publishing full extracts from Simons’ emails with security officials.

The emails show Simons and Szreter wrote to intelligence officials in an effort to get them to investigate the sourcing behind a story in the Sunday Times, which they suggested could be linked to a hack and Russian propaganda. Labour Together told officials that Holden was “living with” Jessica Murray. She is the daughter of Andrew Murray, who Simons and Szreter told officials was “suspected of links to Russian intelligence by MI5”. (Murray has said the suggestion he is linked to Russian intelligence “is a lie”.)

A source close to the minister said he approached the NCSC because he had genuine concerns about a possible hack. They disputed he was personally involved in any attempt to smear journalists by reporting them to the NCSC or falsely linking them to a Russian disinformation campaign, putting the blame for any errors on the PR firm.

The source close to Simons did not directly address the accusation that, after the NCSC indicated it would not investigate the matter, Simons proceeded to brief newspapers – including the Guardian – with false allegations about Holden and his material.

The NCSC never opened an investigation into the issues raised by Simons. So why did a law firm representing Labour Together tell another newspaper in mid-February 2023 that it could not comment on questions about the donations “due to ongoing investigations by the UK Intelligence services”?