THE BBC has been slammed over a “borderline irresponsible” interview with the man who helped propel Keir Starmer to power – after failing to “scrutinise” his role in a spying scandal.
Morgan McSweeney gave his first public interview to Nick Robinson, host of the Political Thinking podcast, but was not questioned about his part in the controversy over the think tank he previously ran snooping on journalists digging into its dodgy finances.
Paul Holden, who was among those targeted by a company hired by the think tank, said that the failure to question McSweeney about the scandal was “deeply disappointing”.
Robinson is under pressure to defend his interview, with former shadow chancellor John McDonnell urging the top BBC presenter to respond to Holden’s criticisms.
In a lengthy takedown of the McSweeney interview posted to social media, Holden said: “This a deeply disappointing, borderline irresponsible interview of Morgan McSweeney from [Robinson]. It looks like impunity in action. Has the media not learnt any lessons from Mandelson and of the need to properly scrutinise political actors?”
While Robinson quizzed McSweeney about Labour Together’s role in smashing the party’s left wing, which was decisive in Starmer’s route to No 10, he failed to ask about the think tank’s spying scandal.
Labour Together commissioned Apco, a PR firm, to probe the backgrounds and personal lives about journalists who had revealed the think tank had failed to properly declare £700,000 in donations to the Electoral Commission.
Among those investigated were Holden and Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund. Apco’s report contained smears against Pogrund, including false claims that he could be linked to Russia as well as speculation about his political beliefs.
The report was commissioned after McSweeney had left Labour Together and was replaced by Josh Simons, who passed on the report to the security services.
Simons later became a minister but was forced to resign after the spying scandal became a major news story. He later quit his Commons seat to help Andy Burnham return to Parliament to challenge Starmer.
Holden said: “When I started reporting on McSweeney's undeclared money and his secret campaigns, including by taking damning primary documents to the Sunday Times, Labour Together appointed Apco Worldwide to produce a 'package' that would 'proactively undermine' my factually accurate, public interest reporting.
“To be clear: Apco were hired to 'proactively undermine' my reporting on McSweeney and his role in Starmer's rise. The intention, as shown in internal docs, was to protect both Starmer and McSweeney's reputations ahead of an imminent General Election, while I was trying to warn people about the true nature of this project and its unlawful origins.”
He said the report contained “insane, ludicrous, highly defamatory” claims that he, his family and colleagues were “part of a pro-Kremlin network of journalists”.
Holden pointed out that while McSweeney was no longer working at Labour Together – since rebranded as ThinkLabour, in the wake of the revelations – he appears to have been made aware of the report.
He added: “There was a massive scandal because plans were put in motion to stop questions being asked about McSweeney's unlawful failure to declare money... and now the public broadcaster is failing to ask McSweeney questions about the money.”
McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow chancellor who has previously called for an inquiry into the scandal, said the BBC presenter should respond to Holden’s criticisms.
He said: “I would urge Nick Robinson to read this and respond as to why none of this was effectively addressed by him in the interview he undertook with Morgan McSweeney.
“The right thing for him to do now would be to interview in depth Paul Holden.”
The BBC was approached for comment.
