Guardian editor monstered over defence of Labour Together links

On 21 February, we reported on the Guardian’s links to the Labour Together scandal. Said scandal saw a rogue Labour pressure group spying on journalists and media outlets, including the Canary. Specifically what we focussed on this Saturday were the links between Labour Together and Guardian journalist Pippa Crerar. As we noted, Crerar had avoided addressing the allegations against her.

Now, that’s changed:

Also – if a journalist is presented with an allegation it is their job in first instance to 1/ establish its veracity, usually by speaking to sources 2/ put the allegation to the individual concerned 3/ consider the motivation of the briefer. If the allegation doesn’t pass those… pic.twitter.com/x2jYKxOoTg

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) February 21, 2026

Labour Together

Paul Holden is the investigative journalist who wrote The Fraud. His book details how Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together worked to prevent their own party from winning in 2019 (and also how they positioned Keir Starmer to take over).

To bring you up to speed, here’s what he reported on Crerar:

On the 8th of February, 2024, Pippa Crerar, the deputy political editor of The Guardian, sent me an email. Pippa Crerar’s email said that The Guardian was 24 hours away from running a story that would allege that I was under investigation by the UK security services for receiving information stolen by Russia from a hack of the Electoral Commission.

The story was nonsense.

I hadn’t received a single document from Russia. I would never receive a document from Russia. This is an unbelievable story.

When I told Pippa Crerar that the allegations were false, that in fact I would sue the Guardian for defamation if they reprinted that story, the story disappeared.

In the tweet above, Crerar is arguing that she was just doing her job by threatening to run this false and unverified story. To be fair, she was arguably just ‘doing her job’ — the problem is that it’s a shit job.

As commenter Flying Rodent highlighted:

I put it to you that if the hacks e.g. properly considered the motivation of the briefer and ditched stories if they thought they were bullshitty and self-serving, then Keir Starmer would not now be Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/lMSjHhnRm5

— Flying_Rodent (@flying_rodent) February 21, 2026

This is how it works.

People in power use the media to disseminate information in ways which benefit them, and in return journalists get access to people in power.

Of course, this shouldn’t be how it works.

Journalists and politicians should loathe one another.

They certainly shouldn’t appear in photographs like this one featuring Emily Maitlis and Peter Mandelson:

Emily Maitlis NEVER trusted Petey Mandelson: pic.twitter.com/psoAwyjc7N

— LynnieB – #Your Party #Palestine #LFC (@LynnBraben) February 12, 2026

Of course, even accepting Crerar’s logic, her argument still doesn’t hold up:

You didn’t ’put the allegation’ to Paul though, did you @PippaCrerar ? You told him the Guardian were running a story the next day. And ‘none of the allegations’ were printed because he said he would sue. This rewording is entirely cynical and fails to address your role. pic.twitter.com/Mj86N4cek9

— dreams of widnes (@DWidnes) February 21, 2026

This defence of Crerar's attempt to push the Labour Together smear on Paul Holden fails on its own terms : Crerar told Holden "we intend to" publish the rotten story as if it were true , and imo did not "establish its veracity " and or "consider the motivation of the briefer" https://t.co/7youK7FGgL pic.twitter.com/17AraDGdil

— Solomon Hughes (@SolHughesWriter) February 21, 2026

Big issues

Novara’s Steven Methven noted there’s another issue even if you take Crerar’s word:

For me, the issue is that Crerar or her editors decided, rightly, not to run the story, presumably on the basis of her point 3 below and Holden’s reply.

But that means they had all the basis for a different story about malicious briefing against journalists from Labour Together… https://t.co/Ydlte59T0e

— Steven Methven (@StevenJMethven) February 21, 2026

Whichever way you cut it, it’s not a good look for the British establishment.

Featured image via Parliament