Bex Sumner

Carer. Formerly The Canary, Greenpeace, SumOfUs. She/her. 💚 🇵🇸

[Jamie Henn @jamieclimate]

Never forget that as early as the 1950s the oil industry knew this was *exactly* the crisis their pollution would create, but instead of warning the public, they funded massive, ongoing disinformation campaigns and lobbied against clean energy.

Climate change isn’t a tragedy, it’s a crime.

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

CALL FOR EVIDENCE: THE LABOUR TOGETHER PARLIAMENT

Please share widely and help us expose the hyper-factional remaking of the Parliamentary Labour Party by the Labour Together/Morgan McSweeney project.

Submissions to be made to [email protected]

Shadow World Investigations (SWI) and Paul Holden - author of The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and the Crisis of British Democracy – are today announcing a new investigative project about the transformation of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) under the Labour Together Project.

This long-germinating project is soliciting evidence about how Labour Party processes were used (and abused) to manipulate the selection of Labour MP candidates who now make up the majority of the PLP.

Sir Keir Starmer was the frontman for a scandalous political project that spent the best part of a decade remaking the Labour Party along rigidly factional and exclusionary lines.

The most consequential transformation was of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Two thirds of the Labour MPs currently sitting in the House of Commons were selected through a process tightly controlled by Morgan McSweeney and his allies, allegedly with direct (albeit informal) input from Peter Mandelson. Labour Together, and its key donors, then spent over £2 million on getting this intake of MPs elected.

The selection process that McSweeney oversaw was beset by allegations of misconduct and irregularities so widespread that veteran journalist Michael Crick warned of potential ‘corruption’. One MP selection has resulted in criminal charges being filed against Labour officials.

These are the MPs that not just determine the future of the country but will play a key role in either making or breaking the political fortunes of whoever next succeeds Starmer.

In a follow up to The Fraud, SWI, Paul Holden and Jessica Murray will be embarking upon ‘The Labour Together Parliament’ project to examine the legitimacy of the process that resulted in the current Parliament, upon which any Labour government will rest.

What we need as a first step is information.

We would like evidence of any wrongdoing or stitch-ups during the selection process. We would like to build a collection of evidence about the ways in which bureaucrats forced through or manipulated the selection process, including in the finalisation of longlists and shortlists, and, where it happened, the decision being removed from local democratic decision making altogether.

We are particularly interested in the vote tallies from every Labour candidate selection between 2022 and 2024. These have not been routinely published.

We are particularly interested in tallies that distinguish between postal/online/and in-person votes. These different vote tallies would have been provided to losing candidates. Sometimes they were only read out in selection meetings. We are not only looking for results that seem ‘dodgy’ – but all vote tallies, including those that are not in the least suspicious. This will allow us to build a holistic database and rigorously test different hypotheses.

We would also like tallies from candidate selections in seats that weren’t Labour targets and didn’t result in any MP. Ideally, it would be great if we could be provided with contemporaneous evidence of these vote tallies – such as a screenshot of a message or email relaying the result.

We would also be interested in narrowing down which CLPs used Anonyvoter for MP selection, even if the vote tallies are not available.

Please send any information you think is relevant to the selection of the current PLP [email protected].

And please share this call for evidence widely!

[Sarah Wilkinson @swilkinsonbc]

Fahd Abu Heikal carries the body of his infant son Sam, who was executed yesterday night by israeli troops for being born Palestinian

[Briefcase Michael @BriefcaseMike]

Worth reminding people of the pre-2024 Keir Starmer, waving a trans poster and with a gormless grin on his face and claiming to lead a party supportive of trans rights. A man who can't see a bus without throwing people under it. 🏳️‍⚧️

[Miffy @miffythegamer]

This sums up the entire TERF movement perfectly.

[Alonso Gurmendi @Alonso_GD]

Uh-huh

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

Joint Statement: Paul Holden and Andrew Feinstein Regarding Labour Together, APCO and the Labour Party

On Wednesday last week we received documents from Labour Together following Subject Access Requests that we submitted to Labour Together in February 2026. The documents provided by Labour Together are deeply disturbing.

They show that Labour Together and APCO targeted us, our colleagues, our associates and Paul’s family with utterly false and highly defamatory allegations, and that this was done with the knowledge of the highest levels of the Labour Party. Indeed, we are now of the view that the operation to investigate us, our families and associates was effectively a joint operation run by the Labour Party, Labour Together and APCO.

This highly invasive campaign was launched because of Paul’s factually accurate reporting. This reporting raised serious questions about whether Labour Together and Morgan McSweeney deliberately failed to report £730,000 in donations to the Electoral Commission in violation of the law. It is now plain that Sir Keir Starmer benefited from the work funded by these donations and that they facilitated his rise to power.

We are calling for a full inquiry into Labour Together.

We also call on Sir Keir Starmer to clarify his role in this scandal. Considering the documents that have been disclosed to date, we find it nearly inconceivable that Sir Keir Starmer did not know about this despicable project that included Labour Together reporting us to the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, based on utterly false and highly defamatory allegations. These highly defamatory allegations were then shared with at least one major newspaper outlet.

The newly released documents reveal six important facts.

First, they show that Morgan McSweeney and Paul Ovenden were aware of the APCO and Labour Together investigation into us from at least January 2024. McSweeney was the Labour Party’s head of campaigns and subsequently Sir Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff in Number 10. Paul Ovenden was the Director of Labour Party communications and subsequently Head of Strategy in Number 10.

The emails show Simons arranging a meeting between himself, Ovenden, McSweeney and Tom Harper, a senior APCO employee, to discuss the investigation into us. A third Labour employee was copied into the email, but, because of redactions, we do not know who this is. We ask the Labour Party to confirm who else was copied into this correspondence.

The excellent @PeterKGeoghegan and Democracy for Sale have confirmed with a Labour Party source that the intended meeting did take place.

Second, they show that APCO’s Tom Harper actively coached Josh Simons and Labour Together on how to submit a ‘crime complaint’ about us to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ. Harper provided text for Simons to submit to the NCSC. The decision to complain about us to the NCSC was made only days after Simons had emailed McSweeney, Ovenden and Harper about APCO’s upcoming report into us, asking for a meeting to discuss its contents.

Third, Josh Simons has repeatedly claimed in public that he appointed APCO to investigate a ‘hack’ of Labour Together materials. But the new documents show that Labour Together and Simons did not conduct any meaningful cybersecurity review to establish whether materials had been hacked from Labour Together, or where else they may have been sourced from.

Labour Together did, however, appoint a cybersecurity expert to review a potential hack in late 2025. This review, a summary of which has now been disclosed to us, shows that there was no ‘hack’ of Labour Together. This is obviously true, as we have repeatedly explained that the investigation into Labour Together was based on documents legally leaked from the Labour Party by whistleblowers concerned about misconduct by the Party’s most senior officials, open-source materials, and Freedom of Information requests.

Fourth, they show that Josh Simons and Labour Together told the NCSC that they were reporting us because they were concerned that Paul’s reporting ‘may be a co-ordinated effort to discredit Labour Together in order to undermine Mr McSweeney and by extension, Mr. Starmer in the run-up to next year’s general election.’ It is our view that this joint Labour Together, Labour Party and APCO operation was launched because Paul’s factually accurate reporting would have shed light on the highly problematic and unlawful aspects of Sir Keir Starmer’s rise to power.

Fifth, they show that APCO had sent a ‘case summary’ to Josh Simons of Labour Together on the 20th of November 2020, on the basis of which APCO were contracted by Labour Together two days later. The ‘case summary’, setting out a proposed scope of work, clearly identified us as journalists. From the very beginning, therefore, APCO and Labour Together knew that they were looking to investigate journalists – the very journalists who were reporting accurately on Labour Together, Morgan McSweeney and undeclared donations.

Sixth, they show that Simons wrote to an unknown person at the Labour Party in November 2023 asking for ‘intel’ on us. This shows that Simons’ immediate response to announcement of Paul’s book was to seek the assistance of the Labour Party. At the time, we were both Labour Party members. The reply to Simons’ request has been redacted in our documents. We call on the Labour Party to release all documents to us relevant to this scandal, and to confirm whether Josh Simons, Labour Together or APCO were provided with any of our private, personal information.

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

Israel has destroyed the final bridge to Southern Lebanon. There is now no way for millions of displaced people to reach their homes. There is no means for essential aid and supplies to reach those who were unable to flee.

Another mammoth war crime, another act of barbarity.

[Assal Rad @AssalRad]

This is how Palestinians are living in Gaza.

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

7 hours of silence from the Prime Minister.

The US is using UK bases. The President is openly talking about destroying a civilisation.

And Downing Street says... nothing.

If you won’t speak up now, when will you?

[Mahmoud Massri | مَحْمُود 🇵🇸 @MahmoudMassri15]

The mothers of prisoners are screaming and crying in the streets of Gaza after the execution decision was issued against their sons…
How painful this day is for us in Gaza—a day where tears mix with anguish, and hearts are overwhelmed with more than they can bear.😭💔

[Zachary Foster @_ZachFoster]

The same military courts that convict Palestinians 99.7% of the time now have the power to execute them. https://t.co/aTjA2lILfp

[Abubaker Abed @AbubakerAbedW]

The bill has been approved. Israeli prisons will turn into guillotines for Palestinians.

Hundreds will be executed in the next few weeks. 9300 hostages now in Israeli custody.

Dark day for humanity. Unforgettable memory in the Palestinian cause history.

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

One.

Never back down in the face of hate - when they attack migrants, when they spew hate about our trans siblings, when they blame muslims for our country’s ills. We stand united - because there's more that brings us together than divides us.

[Richard Sanders @PulaRJS]

Josh Simons is the third high profile figure to resign as a result of the work of investigative journalist Paul Holden.

I wonder if it's time a mainstream media outlet reviewed his book.
https://t.co/W9gXqxNZRX

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

STATEMENT BY PAUL HOLDEN IN RESPONSE TO RESIGNATION OF JOSH SIMONS

Josh Simons doesn’t deserve to be an MP, let alone a Cabinet Minister. I will now work to make sure Parliamentary authorities hold him to account if our weak and supine Prime Minister will not.

Simons, while a director of Labour Together, hired a reputation firm, APCO Worldwide, that used a series of invasive techniques to investigate me, my colleagues and my family, and a range of other British and American journalists. They found out where I lived and with whom. Simons made entirely false, defamatory and conspiratorial claims about me, my colleagues and my family.

His actions threatened my livelihood and reputation as was well as that of my colleagues. It risked undermining ongoing work we were doing tackling grand corruption around the world, including in collaboration with multiple law enforcement agencies. It has caused me and my young family significant distress.

It is appalling that Simons cannot bring himself to apologise to me and my family after his conduct towards us has been exposed.

Let’s be clear: the contract signed with APCO by Simons sought to ‘proactively undermine’ factually accurate public interest stories that dealt with serious unlawful conduct by the most senior people in the incoming Labour administration, many of whom were Simons’ personal friends and political allies. This was intended to undermine not just my work, but the work of all of the journalists – including Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke of the Sunday Times and Matt Taibbi – working with me on these stories.

My investigations sought to expose the rot at the heart of the political project that has since brought “Petie” Mandelson into the centre of government. They were motivated by serious concerns about this project’s approach to good governance, civil liberties and basic decency – all of which have been entirely vindicated.

Sir Laurie Magnus’ investigation must also be criticised. I wrote to Sir Laurie this past week asking for an opportunity to give evidence. I had matters about which only I knew and which should have been considered. It is deeply unfortunate that Sir Laurie has not sought the evidence or opinions of the victims of Simons’ unacceptable behaviour.

I believe Simons’ statements about my book and its treatment of the very serious issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party are defamatory and wrong. I am instructing lawyers with a view to bringing defamation proceedings in this respect.

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

It has been revealed that our chief reporter, ⁦@jmcevoy_2⁩, was among journalists investigated by a PR firm paid by Labour Together.

Labour Together was then managed by Josh Simons. Simons is now Cabinet Office minister. https://t.co/oE7vxIzdTa

[Bisan Owda @bisanowda01]

Happy new year my dear fellows on this planet, I wish you a year full of activism and turning this world into our world for real

[Barry Malone @malonebarry]

Not only did Israel systematically hunt down and kill almost every journalist in Gaza, they murdered more than 700 of their family members also.

This slaughter went on while many of the world's most prominent journalists stayed quiet. It is an eternal stain on our profession.

[Tamer Nahed @Tamer_Alnoaizy]

These videos from Gaza are being suppressed by some, fearing the truth will be revealed, exposing their false humanity to the world.
A 10-year-old child cries after losing his tent and shivers from the cold.

Don’t let them silence this.
Share these clips, let the voices of our children be heard, let the world see the full truth… without any masking, without any distortion.