The Tories have put in a formal complaint to the parliamentary standards commissioner over allegations of irregular donations to Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign in 2020.
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake has asked for an investigation after claiming he had uncovered new evidence regarding the role of Sir Keir’s now chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, in running the leadership campaign.
He alleged that Mr McSweeney’s then thinktank Labour Together had in effect made undeclared donations to the Starmer campaign.
However, Labour sources have strongly denied the allegations, saying Mr McSweeney was only paid by the leadership campaign, not Labour Together, at the time.
It is part of an ongoing push by the Conservative Party to attack Mr McSweeney, who is seen as the most powerful ally of the prime minister’s and the most influential figure in the government.
In a threat on social media platform X, Mr Hollinrake said: “Labour say there’s nothing here to see, and that there was no involvement. But… it was confirmed in 2023 that Morgan McSweeney was ‘seconded from Labour Together to be campaign director for Starmer.’”
He went on: “Morgan McSweeney’s own LinkedIn also confirms he was working as Starmer’s campaign director at the time. But Labour Together’s Companies House declarations confirm McSweeney was serving as director of the organisation throughout this period – only leaving the role in April.”
He also noted that now-deleted articles from Labour Together’s own website “boasted of their intimate involvement with Starmer’s campaign”, including that “in 2020, Labour Together helped to tally the party membership behind Keir Starmer.”
He also alleged that Labour Together spent thousands on polling for the Starmer campaign to defeat the left-wing candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Mr Hollinrake alleged it was “a cover-up” and added: “The House of Commons rules on political donations are crystal clear that donations or support in kind to MPs from members’ associations must be declared – yet ‘Nothing to See Here’ Keir completely failed to do so.”
He claimed “the public are being lied to” and announced he was making a formal complaint to the Standards Commissioner.
However, Labour has issued a denial of the allegations.
A Labour source said: “Morgan’s salary was paid for by Keir’s leadership campaign for the duration of the campaign, not Labour Together. Neither Keir nor his leadership campaign accepted monetary or in-kind donations from Labour Together during the Leadership election.”
