Labour Together was fined £14,250 by the Electoral Commission in September 2021 over late reporting of donations.
Josh Simons said it was “nonsense” to claim he wanted to investigate journalists and he had asked APCO Worldwide to “look into a suspected illegal hack, which had nothing to do with UK journalists at Sunday Times, Guardian or any other brilliant UK newspaper”.
“APCO’s investigation never fully got to the bottom of this,” he wrote on X.
“Those who know me know I think the work of journalists is vital to our democracy.”
Labour Together and ACPO Worldwide have not responded to requests for comment.
A government source said: “We are looking into the claims”.
The think tank is alleged to have hired journalist-turned-lobbyist Tom Harper from APCO Worldwide to investigate reporting by The Sunday Times and other outlets to identify their sources. Harper has not responded to a request for comment.
In the leaked contract, APCO Worldwide said it intended to “establish who and what are behind the coordinated attacks on Labour Together”.
The firm said it would use open source, human intelligence and digital forensics work and its approach should “provide a body of evidence that could be packaged up for use in the media in order to create narratives that would proactively undermine any future attacks on Labour Together”.
