Nada

I'm not even supposed to be here today.

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@GadSaad I do not believe that a heavily armed, fanatical group of Pagans with very tenuous historical familial links to England, should be allowed to take over my country, kick me out of my house and execute me if I resist.

So yeah, I'm also against Zionism.

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

The UK has put "the entire Iranian State" on the "enhanced tier" of its Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, requiring anyone working for Iran to register or be prosecuted.

While a third of Cabinet and a quarter of parliament is funded by the Israel lobby.

#DCUKparliament

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@StayAnon5 @9O4BC @AllFutbolMX They are literally just football fans singing a song.

You're hosting the World Cup this Summer!

Worth reflecting on why you feel the Iraqi fans are 'radical dickheads'?

I suggest you have been socialised to have a Pavlovian reaction to spoken or written Arabic.

[Ron Placone @RonPlacone]

Why is she doing this? Because there was general strike after general strike in Rome calling for an end to the genocide. Because the Italian dockers refused to ship weapons to Israel. The people made their fascist, pro-war PM change her tune because they demanded it. ✊🇮🇹

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

‘Is there anyone else you know who has had a 28.9% pay rose in the last 3 years,’ asks Nick Robinson disbelievingly of an NHS doctor.

Last year, Robinson’s BBC pay rose by at least £135k

[NJ @NoJusticeMTG]

A party headed by people who sit on their arse collecting dividends, funded by people who sit on their arse collecting rent, voted for by people who sit on their arse collecting their pension.

Not a single working person in sight.

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

When people say "Zionism is racism", this is exactly what they mean.

You have to be profoundly racist to sit there talking about how tough life is for Israelis when Israelis back pounding Gaza, Lebanon and Iran "into the Stone Age", as their politicians and generals term it.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Entirely misses the point that it's a death penalty that only applies to one ethnicity, the Palestinians, a people who are illegally occupied, living under military rule and subject to dispossession, constant violence and ethnic cleansing

[Media Lens @medialens]

Hello @BBCNews,

Are your senior staff still hiding in a bunker, wondering how to respond to the serious questions raised by Paul Holden's statement?

Or are you hoping it will all just go away?

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@SecWar No Trump?

Bone spurs playing up again?

[Sony Thăng @nxt888]

58,000 Americans died in Vietnam.

Over 3,000,000 Vietnamese died.

And for fifty years, American culture has centered the grief of the 58,000 while treating the 3,000,000 as a backdrop.

As scenery. As context. As "the Vietnam War experience."

They built a wall in Washington with American names on it.

A beautiful wall. A solemn wall.

Good. Mourn your dead.

But understand what that wall does not say.

It does not say why they died.

It does not say what they were doing there.

It does not say what was done in their name to the people whose country it actually was.

It does not mention My Lai, where American soldiers massacred an entire village, old men, women, children, babies, and the officer who ordered it served three years of house arrest before being pardoned.

Three years. House arrest. Pardoned.

For five hundred people murdered in a ditch.

It does not mention the 2.7 million acres of Vietnamese forest doused in Agent Orange, a chemical weapon disguised as herbicide, that is still deforming Vietnamese children today.

Not in 1970. Not in 1985. Today.

Children born in 2020 with bodies twisted by a war their grandparents fought.

And the chemical companies that made it are still in business.

Still profitable.

Still un-prosecuted.

And yet they send us human rights reports.

They grade our democracy.

They warn us about our behavior.

The audacity is so enormous it becomes almost impressive.

Almost.

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

Whenever you see deranged Hezbollah posts, just remember people argue the political wing was only proscribed in 2019 by Sajid Javid to discredit Jeremy Corbyn as a ‘friend of terrorists’

because he was once photographed next to Hezbollah flag at a protest

I am not even joking.

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

This is outrageous from the BBC.

What's your excuse, @bbcpress?

You're supposed to answer to us, the licence payers.

So how can you excuse these outrageous violations of journalistic standards?

[Canary @TheCanaryUK]

Since when do British police wear face coverings @Keir_Starmer?

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@GBNEWS @EssexPR Adam Brooks would do well to look at the historical causes of the situation in Palestine.

This is about the UK, both in terms historical responsibility, and whether or not we want an ethically consistent, truly 'Britain first' foreign policy in 2026.

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@LBC @LBC you're also part of the gaslighting at this point.

We are deeply involved in this war, and have been from the start.

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@ITVNewsPolitics Our principles of running spy flights for the IDF during a genocide, & not to release footage that potentially shows the killing of British aid workers?

or our principles of letting the US run bombing raids that have hit schools & hospitals from RAF bases?

Which principles?

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@jomickane @DavidTaylor85 The guy joined the IDF and took part in a genocide Gaza.

I remember when right wing Union Jack types had an issue with Brits who identified with other nations, let alone joined their armed forces for a jaunt and then wanted to come back!

[Nada @Nada_1916]

@RichardBurgon This is brazen damage limitation and narrative control from the Establishment, both on the political and the media side.

https://t.co/7wu9uJxZe9

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

PAUL HOLDEN STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO INTERVIEW WITH JOSH SIMONS ON BBC NEWSCAST

Yesterday, BBC Newscast published a lengthy, forty-minute interview with former Cabinet Minister Josh Simons MP. The interview addressed how Simons, as a director of @LabourTogether, had appointed a firm called APCO Worldwide to investigate me and my colleagues.

I was not told by the BBC ahead of the broadcast that the episode was being recorded or aired. I was not approached to respond to the lengthy comments made about me or the small anti-corruption organisation, @ShadowWorldInv1 , that I run with my colleague @andrewfeinstein. Andrew, who is also repeatedly mentioned, was also not approached for comment.

I only found out last night, when a friend texted me, that the person who hired a major multinational reputation management firm that produced a despicable and defamatory report on me and my colleagues, and who reported me on the basis of these false and defamatory reports to the UK’s security services, was being given forty minutes to give his version of events on a major podcast published by our national broadcaster.

To be clear, the BBC has NEVER - not once - approached me to comment on a story that is, ultimately, about me, my investigations, my family and my colleagues. They did not approach me when the story first broke, and they did not approach me for this episode.

If the BBC had done so, I would have raised several issues with the way in which matters related to me were discussed. For example, Simons repeatedly stated in the interview that he instructed APCO to investigate whether my reporting or sourcing derived from a ‘hack’ of the Electoral Commission. The word ‘hack’ is used eight times in the interview.

At no time was it acknowledged in this discussion that this allegation – that I might have received hacked materials – is entirely false, and I have repeatedly proven it to be false.

Following the broadcast, I contacted the BBC to complain and to raise serious issues with the broadcast. I was contacted by the Newscast editor, Sam Bonham, to say the BBC would update the Newscast episode and further reporting to reflect some of my concerns. This has not yet happened with regards to the podcast, although I note some online reporting finally reflects a very small and limited sampling of my comments. I will wait to see if amendments and updates will follow. If they do not, I will be escalating this matter to OFCOM.

In the interim, I have decided to share the full statement I provided to the BBC, which is produced below:

I would like to put certain things on the record.

First, my reporting on Labour Together and Morgan McSweeney was entirely factually accurate and based on impeccable, legal sourcing. My sourcing has been reviewed by multiple media outlets, who confirmed the authenticity and legal provenance of my sources. Revelations based on my book, The Fraud, has subsequently been covered widely across the mainstream media, including in multiple front-page scoops, in outlets such as The Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, The National and ITV.

The stories I produced in 2023 and 2024, and which prompted Labour Together's investigation into me, were subject to extensive editorial and legal checks. They were, I believe, entirely accurate reporting on matters of profound public interest, which included raising concerns about the character of powerful individuals like Morgan McSweeney. Considering the recent Mandelson affair, I believe I have been entirely vindicated in attempting to alert the public about McSweeney's past, including how McSweeney made use of £700,000 in funding that he unlawfully failed to declare to the Electoral Commission to procure power and influence for himself and Sir Keir Starmer.

Second, Josh Simons states that he never intended for APCO Worldwide to investigate me or my journalistic colleagues. However, a copy of the contract between APCO Worldwide and Labour Together, addressed to Simons, has now been published. The contract sets out a scope of work written in plain English.

It states that APCO will 'investigate the sourcing, funding, origins of a Sunday Times article as well as upcoming works by authors Paul Holden and Matt Taibbi.' The contract then states that the aim of the APCO investigation will be to 'provide a body of evidence that could be packaged up in the media in order to create narratives that would proactively undermine any future attacks on Labour Together.' The contract then sets out a range of potentially invasive investigative methods that will be used to generate this 'package', including 'financial investigations' and 'human intelligence investigations.' I provide the full text of this contract below.

This contract is clear. APCO were hired to investigate me to produce materials that would 'proactively undermine' my factually accurate, public interest reporting. They would use a range of investigative techniques to do so. APCO then did exactly as was suggested in the contract, using these investigative methods to "investigate" me. This investigation has caused me and my family significant anxiety and distress.

Third, Josh Simons was provided with a report called Operation Cannon. It is the result of a lengthy investigation into me and my colleagues by APCO Worldwide. I have seen a copy of this report. It makes a series of extremely defamatory and utterly false allegations against me. It identifies my home address and sets out private information about my family. I cannot express how profoundly shocking, outrageous and defamatory this report truly is.

Simons may claim he never intended for APCO to investigate me, but on receipt of this despicable report, he then chose to use it. He submitted sections of the report to the National Cyber Security Centre to convince them to investigate me. The Guardian has published the email correspondence in which Simons repeated some of the substance of the allegations in the APCO reports.

Fourth, multiple media freedom advocacy organisations, including the NUJ, have strongly criticised the APCO investigation and these related matters. They have all, to my mind correctly, strongly criticised Labour Together and APCO for investigating journalists producing factually accurate reporting in the public interest.

Finally, I am still reviewing the Newscast interview. I will be responding in due course and I hope that the BBC will, this time, give me the platform to set out what really happened and why.

Text of Contract Between Labour Together and APCO Worldwide, addressed to Josh Simons

Dear Mr Simons

We are pleased that you have selected APCO Worldwide Limited (“APCO”) to provide the following scope of work (“services”) during Term:

APCO will devise a concise strategy to aid Labour Together. APCO will 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. The approach should 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. The material can also inform any future legal strategy that Labour Together might wish to pursue against any of these parties.

The work will include:

• Open Source Investigations (OSINT): Recovery and Preservation of Evidence
• Human Intelligence Investigation (HUMINT): Recovery and Preservation of Evidence
• Financial Investigation: Forensic Accounting Focus
• Digital Forensics Investigation: Recovery and Preservation of Evidence
• Stakeholder Outreach
• Media Packaging and Dissemination

[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.