Starmer denies knowing about spying on journalists — but his office is knee-deep in it

Keir Starmer has denied knowing that the shady ‘Labour Together’ sabotage outfit that put him into Labour’s top seat was spying on journalists. But his office and front bench were knee-deep in it. And the details keep coming out.

Labour Together goes after Murdoch hacks

Labour Together’s spying on journalists has been public knowledge for months. But those were independent, left-wing journalists and authors. So none of the ‘mainstream’ media or political establishment cared much. But now it’s public that it was using the same PR firm to dig — and allegedly make up-dirt on two hacks working for press baron Rupert Murdoch. So it’s suddenly ‘become’ a scandal.

So far, so predictable. But as more information comes out, Starmer’s denials look increasingly hollow. We already know that his disgraced, recently-resigned chief of staff Morgan McSweeney ran Labour Together for much of the critical period. We know also know that his cabinet minister Steve Reed was involved up to the elbows. So was Reed’s fellow cabinet minister Lisa Nandy. And Josh Simons, now a Starmer front-bencher, ordered the £30k spying campaign.

But yet another tight-link to Starmer has come out.

Courting APCO

In September 2025, Starmer’s strategy director Paul Ovenden was forced to resign after his obscene messages leaked to the hard-right media.

And in breaking news, we now know that Ovenden’s wife, Kate Forrester, was Director of APCO Worldwide — the firm Labour Together hired to spy on and smear two Sunday Times journalists who were investigating its “slush funds and secret donations”.

BREAKING: Kate Forrester, wife of Keir Starmer’s disgraced ex-Director of Strategy Paul Ovenden, was Director of APCO Worldwide — the private investigator hired by Labour Together ‘think tank’ to trash Sunday Times journalists who exposed its slush funds and secret donations. https://t.co/66UfdYm5rx pic.twitter.com/A7YGCPYCIj

— Joe Rich (@joerichlaw) February 16, 2026

If Succession or Billions came up with this kind of psycho-drama plot, people would say it was too far-fetched. In Keir Starmer’s ‘Labour’, reality is too wild for fiction.

Featured image via the Canary