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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Henry Dyer and Dan Sabbagh

Labour minister falsely linked journalists to ‘pro-Kremlin’ network in emails to GCHQ

Composite of Josh Simons, Paul Holden and Gabriel Pogrund headshots in front of an image of the GCHQ building
Josh Simons (left) named Paul Holden (centre) and Gabriel Pogrund (right) in emails to NCSC officials. Composite: Guardian Design/Labour Together/Sky News/Simon King/Getty Images

A Labour minister who claimed to be “surprised” and “furious” at a PR agency’s work to investigate journalists on his behalf had been personally involved in naming them to British intelligence officials and falsely linking them to pro-Russian propaganda, the Guardian can reveal.

Josh Simons, who was running the thinktank Labour Together at the time, was also involved in telling security officials that another journalist was “living with” the daughter of a former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn. Officials were told by Simons’ team that the former adviser was “suspected of links to Russian intelligence”.

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