Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s beleaguered chief of staff, will not face another investigation into undeclared donations to the Labour Together thinktank, the elections watchdog has said.
The Electoral Commission said it had found “no evidence of any other potential offences” by the thinktank formerly led by McSweeney, which was previously fined in 2021.
The Conservatives had asked for a new inquiry, claiming leaked emails showed that McSweeney deliberately attempted to cover up the late reporting of donations as an administrative error when he ran Labour Together.
The decision will come as a relief to Keir Starmer after the Tories claimed that the leaked emails cast doubt over McSweeney’s position as chief of staff.
There has been a large degree of churn among Starmer’s senior allies recently, including losing two directors of communications, James Lyons and Steph Driver, his director of political strategy, Paul Ovenden, and his policy chief, Liz Lloyd.
Previously, he oversaw the departure of another communications chief, Matthew Doyle, and parted ways with his former chief of staff Sue Gray, leading to the elevation of McSweeney to the role almost a year ago.
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said this week that the Tories were trying to force McSweeney out of office because he was a “formidable opponent” and a “highly talented individual” who masterminded Labour’s election campaign.
While Downing Street will be hoping the decision draws a line under questions about the late declared donations, Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative chair, said the Electoral Commission was wrong not to investigate. “It is clear that Morgan McSweeney deceived the Electoral Commission but has dodged a criminal offence on a technicality,” he said. “This loophole won’t wash.
“The Conservatives uncovered clear evidence of McSweeney’s industrial-scale cover-up of a slush fund used to install Keir Starmer as Labour leader. Despite the denials of Labour and nothing-to-see-here Keir, it is clear that the prime minister’s chief of staff still has very serious questions to answer.”
The Conservatives are pushing for an investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner.
Labour Together was fined £14,250 in September 2021 over late reporting of £740,000 of donations after the organisation reported itself to the Electoral Commission for failures to declare the money in 2020.
The thinktank and campaigning group, now led by the former Daily Mirror editor Alison Phillips, is closely linked to the Labour party and is regarded as loyal to Starmer and his allies. Launched in 2015 after Labour’s election defeat under Ed Miliband, it relaunched in 2017 under the leadership of McSweeney as a vehicle for wresting control of the party from Jeremy Corbyn and persuading centrist MPs not to break away from the party.
McSweeney left his role at Labour Together in April 2020 to become a senior aide to Starmer in opposition and then in government.
An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “We have thoroughly reviewed this information and found no evidence of any other potential offences. We are confident that the initial determination and sanction were appropriate. We are therefore not reopening the investigation.”
The spokesperson said Labour Together’s fine in 2021 had been “significant” and reflected “the seriousness of the offences determined, for which no reasonable excuse was put forward”.
Labour Together said it welcomed the decision and highlighted the fact it had proactively raised concerns about the failure to declare donations in 2020. “Since then, we have taken measures to ensure Labour Together is fully compliant with all Electoral Commission regulations,” it said.
