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in a letter to the Electoral Commission, Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said the party has new information to justify the commission ‘initiating a formal inquiry and then to refer the incident to the police’ relating to ‘the breach of political finance laws’.
Mr Hollinrake said advice from lawyer Gerald Shamash written in 2021, which appeared to have been ‘passed from within the Labour Party to outside sources’, revealed discussion about how to handle the Commission – and admitted it would not be easy to explain Labour Together’s position.
Mr Hollinrake said Mr McSweeney was advised that Labour Together should blame the non-reporting of donations on an administration error.
But the Tory chairman believed the donations weren’t declared to protect the donors’ identities.
The row comes ahead of the publication next month of The Fraud, by journalist Paul Holden, which will include a detailed account of Mr McSweeney’s role in Labour Together.
The think-tank was a key plank of the drive by Mr McSweeney and his allies – including Lord Mandelson, who was sacked as US ambassador this month over links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – to topple Mr Corbyn from the party leadership.
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