• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Monday, May 12, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Mainstream media polling company accused of corruption over links to Owen Smith’s campaign

James Wright by James Wright
23 September 2016
in UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
163 10
A A
0
Home UK
321
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A market research company that conducts monthly voter-intention polls for The Daily Mirror and The Mail on Sunday has been accused of corruption over apparent links to Owen Smith’s Labour leadership campaign.

Survation donated £1,600 to key Smith backer Gloria De Piero’s Constituency Labour Party (CLP), as revealed by Heavy Metal Politics. Sitting on the strategy board of Blairite pressure group Progress, De Piero penned an article in Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun, “begging” its readers to join the party in order to vote for Smith.

On 21 September, former Labour MP George Galloway expressed suspicion about the donation on social media:

Well well well…
https://t.co/2AZqQY51vX

— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) September 21, 2016

Galloway and others are suspicious because the donation is not the only link between Survation and Smith.

The leadership hopeful used Survation’s headquarters to administer his campaign’s London phone banks. And Smith’s phone-bank relationship with the polling company may well go beyond the capital.

In an embarrassing gaffe, Smith’s campaign team accidentally leaked the login details for his phone-bank operation in early September. Scott Hardy (who administers his phone banks in Hull, Bradford and Leeds) is considered to have made the mistake, leaking the password: ‘Survation’.

Owen Smith's team have the absolute cheek to accuse @jeremycorbyn of "incompetence" the day after this! pic.twitter.com/ZUydXlLdxr

— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) September 5, 2016

Survation said they were “unable to comment” on any arrangement with Owen 2016. The information remains “confidential” without the client’s permission.

As well as phone banks, private polling was carried out by the Smith campaign on two occasions. This was used to suggest that the Labour leadership challenger had a good chance of beating current leader Jeremy Corbyn. This is totally at odds with other public polls that predict a clear win for the incumbent. Disregarding transparency, Smith has refused to release details of which company carried out these private polls. When asked if Survation had conducted private polling for the Smith camp, Director of Research Marius Mosoreanu said that wasn’t the case – ‘as far as he was aware’, anyway.

But Team Corbyn suspects that Survation is indeed doing polling work for Owen 2016. In mid-September, the incumbent’s campaign threatened to pull out of a Sky News leadership hustings over concerns about audience balance. Survation was used to construct the audience for the debate, which the Corbyn campaign raised as a potential “conflict of interest”.

Taking a step backwards from Labour, Survation was the polling company behind The Sun’s controversial front page claiming, wrongly, that one in five Muslims had sympathy for terrorists. The market research firm has since disowned the front page, stating that none of the reporting was “approved by Survation prior to publication”. But despite The Sun receiving thousands of complaints for inciting racial hatred, Survation did not rule out working for the publication again.

If the alleged collaboration between Smith and Survation is true, the implications go way beyond the Labour Party, as the polling company regularly conducts research for The Daily Mirror, Sky News and The Mail on Sunday. If there is nothing to hide, Smith’s campaign should just be honest about who conducted the private polling, and about the extent of its involvement with Survation.

Get Involved!

– Read more Canary articles on the current state of the Labour Party.

– Support The Canary if you appreciate what we do.

Featured image via GMB/Youtube

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Donald Trump is going to throw a sh*t fit when he sees this priceless viral image

Next Post

One council is sacking THOUSANDS of teaching assistants, putting our children’s future in peril

Next Post
One council is sacking THOUSANDS of teaching assistants, putting our children’s future in peril

One council is sacking THOUSANDS of teaching assistants, putting our children's future in peril

Millions wake up with different character traits, following NASA reassignment of personality

Millions wake up with different character traits, following NASA reassignment of personality

Who do you think will challenge Corbyn next year? [POLL]

Who do you think will challenge Corbyn next year? [POLL]

Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy is distracting us from a monumental problem

Mark Zuckerberg's philanthropy is distracting us from a monumental problem

Chelsea Manning just got punished with a form of torture, for being suicidal

Chelsea Manning just got punished with a form of torture, for being suicidal

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub
Lifestyle

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub

by Nathan Spears
12 May 2025
Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to run roughshod over Global South communities
News

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

by The Canary
12 May 2025
Jenu Kuruba families begin their long-awaited re-occupation of their ancestral homes inside the Nagarhole National Park. They carried photos of loved ones who had died after the village was evicted, so they too can return to the forest.
Analysis

An Indigenous community in India just faced down 130 police to return to their ancestral lands

by The Canary
12 May 2025
Nigel Farage waving Reform
Analysis

Reform’s new ‘manifesto’ is just catnip for the fat cats

by The Canary
12 May 2025
UN experts say Israel has 'criminal responsibility' for 'genocidal conduct'
Analysis

UN experts have now accused Israel of ‘genocidal conduct’ in Gaza

by Maryam Jameela
12 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to run roughshod over Global South communities
News
The Canary

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

Jenu Kuruba families begin their long-awaited re-occupation of their ancestral homes inside the Nagarhole National Park. They carried photos of loved ones who had died after the village was evicted, so they too can return to the forest.
Analysis
The Canary

An Indigenous community in India just faced down 130 police to return to their ancestral lands

Nigel Farage waving Reform
Analysis
The Canary

Reform’s new ‘manifesto’ is just catnip for the fat cats

ADVERTISEMENT
Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Why More People Are Seeking Legal Advice When Separating

Travel
Nathan Spears

Hungary Vignette Adventures: Discovering Hidden Gems by Car