Luke Akehurst tries and fails to defend Labour's spy scandal

Luke Akehurst tries and fails to defend Labour’s spy scandal

Luke Akehurst isn’t very well liked here at the Canary. Conversely, seeing Akehurst make a fool of himself is super popular, hence this:

Mate, do you genuinely think you’re helping here.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) February 6, 2026

Spy hard

Akehurst and Hodges are discussing Labour Together’s spying scandal. As Ed Sykes wrote on 6 February:

Labour Together is part of the shady right-wing infrastructure that, along with Peter Mandelson, helped to undermine the left and boost Keir Starmer into power. And a new report reveals how Labour Together spent tens of thousands of pounds getting a dodgy company to investigate journalists looking into all this. This behaviour shows it’s not just Mandelson that should never be near government again. It’s the whole sinister machinery that put Starmer where he is today, including his right-hand man and Mandelson protege Morgan McSweeney.

Is it good for political parties to spy on journalists?

No.

Is it creepy?

Yes.

Does the terminally unaware Akehurst realise any of this?

Not according to the conversation he had with Hodges:

But do you think attempting do defend Labour Together’s profiling of journalists in the current environment is really helpful to your party and Prime Minister.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) February 6, 2026

It's objectively extremely funny that Luke Akehurst's only objection to LT as front organisation, secret slush fund and journalist-hounder is not a moral one, but that he thinks that money would have been spent slightly better on the right-wing corporate ginger group he helms. pic.twitter.com/0CJooxsa61

— Scurial (@Scurial2940422) February 7, 2026

Akehurst didn’t respond to the above, suggesting someone with more than one brain cell advised him to cut his losses. No doubt the same genius advised him to delete all his pro-Mandelson tweets:

Sometimes I almost feel sorry for @lukeakehurst. Such a loyal attack dog for the poisonous version of the Labour Party spewed up by the likes of Mandelson & Blair, he’s now reduced to deleting his fawning tweets – like cleaning up the sick after a party he wasn’t invited to. 😳 pic.twitter.com/uhScyaCYpE

— Ben Sellers (@MrBenSellers) February 5, 2026

If only it was possible to pre-delete tweets (or to simply not tweet them):

Luke's finished deleting "I love Mandelson" tweets to start a batch of "I defend McSweeney" tweets which will be deleted in the not too distant future I assume. https://t.co/aG34EdFEcK

— Mish Rahman (@mish_rahman) February 6, 2026