Starmer facing calls for inquiry into Labour thinktank’s investigation of journalists

Veteran Labour backbencher John McDonnell, right, has called for an inquiry and says if true, the smearing of journalists by thinktank linked to Starmer, left, was ‘unacceptable’. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

Keir Starmer is facing calls from the Conservatives and his own MPs for an inquiry into the commissioning of a report that made “baseless claims” about journalists who were investigating a thinktank linked to the prime minister.

The calls add to pressure on the Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons, who commissioned a report in 2023 on journalists investigating Labour Together, the thinktank that would help propel Starmer to power.