The Labour smear campaign that exposes Starmer’s ‘Stasi’ government

The Daily T

The Telegraph

News, Society & Culture

4.1 • 706 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

Another day, another Labour scandal. The campaign group that helped sweep Sir Keir Starmer into No 10, Labour Together, now stands accused of orchestrating a sinister smear campaign against journalists.

After The Sunday Times revealed the group had failed to declare £730,000 in donations, Labour Together reportedly paid a US consultancy to dig into the “backgrounds and motivations” of reporters Gabriel Pogrund and Harry Yorke.

As the Cabinet Office begins “looking into” the affair, Camilla and Jacob Rees-Mogg ask how deep do Labour Together’s roots run in this Government and if PM Keir Starmer should now sever ties completely.

And as pressure mounts for a full police investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over fresh revelations about his time as trade envoy, emails now suggest he leaked confidential information about Royal Bank of Scotland after its £45bn bailout, and shared sensitive details about Aston Martin.

Producers: Lilian Fawcett and Georgia Coan

Senior Producer: John Cadigan

Executive Producer: Charlotte Seligman

Video Producer: Will Walters

Studio Operator: Meghan Searle

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Editor: Camilla Tominey

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Telegraph
0:07.0	Another day, another Labour scandal, this time the campaign group that helped to get Kirstama elected, Labour together, stands accused of intimidating journalists.
0:19.0	What's more, the person who commissioned the sinister North Korea-style smear campaign is now
0:24.1	cabinet office minister. Is there no end the unpleasantness at the heart of this government?
0:28.4	And pressure is mounting for a full police investigation into Andrew Mountbatten
0:33.3	Windsor after more evidence emerges of him passing on confidential information to Geoffrey
0:39.4	Epstein while he was a trade envoy.
0:42.0	It's morally revolting and a complete abuse of power.
0:44.7	So why didn't anybody raise a red flag at the time?
0:47.8	Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tomini.
0:50.4	And me, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
1:02.0	Thank you. Do you have a good weekend?
1:06.5	Lovely weekend. It's always a pleasure to be back on. Thank you.
1:09.2	I had a nightmare. I thwacked myself in the forehead with my own tennis racket during a doubles match on Saturday. It was nearly concussed. Had to apply huge amounts of arnica. So if I'm not making sense or I suffer from brain fog, that's why. I was just trying to scoop up a little, a drop shot, didn't even get it.
1:30.9	You always make perfect sense, but it's a warning against taking exercise.
1:33.3	I never take any exercise, and therefore I don't have these problems.
1:36.5	You do occasionally walk your dog, you must confess to me, but never in leisure wear.
1:41.2	Can we talk about whether aliens are real? Because the former president, Barack Obama, thinks that they are. You obviously agree with him.
1:44.8	Well, you know why I always went double rest of suits? Because if I unbuttoned it, you would,
1:49.1	oh no, I've given away this. I'm so sorry. I've now told everybody after all these years in hiding.
1:54.4	Well, Obama's statement. He's saying there are no aliens at Area 51 that may be the contents of any of the
2:01.6	alien films that were used to, men in black and such like, which I'm sure you free based
	...

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