BOOK REVIEW

By David Jackson

“The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and the Crisis of British Democracy” (Paul Holden 2025)

Part 2

This is a lengthy, significant and substantial book of almost 550 pages. It is supported by nearly 800 footnotes, which the author decided to place online.  To do it proper justice, requires more than one review. The first part considered the early years of Labour Together and the rise of Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s recently departed Chief of Staff. 

This review will consider how the book deals with the funding of Labour Together and its lack of transparency. This is an important story which needed to be given detailed coverage, coverage that was not provided in the other books about Starmer and his journey to Downing Street.   Unfortunately, the book tells it in a convoluted and sometimes emotive manner. There are passages which seem to reflect the influence of legal advice or the exercise of a right of reply. I also sense that Holden is trying to appeal to different political audiences – the Corbynista Left, rules-based centrists and anyone who puts a premium on honesty and honour in the conduct of public life.   

The lack of transparency revolves around the proper reporting of donations to the Electoral Commission (the body which regulates elections in the UK). Holden also points out that the Electoral Commission provides vital information about who funds politicians, political parties and related organisations like think-tanks. Individuals and organisations that fall under the ambit of the Commission are supposed to report (within 30 days) any donation made or received over £7,500. Details of the donation are made public via the Electoral Commission’s register which is searchable. 

Between June 2017 and September 2020, Labour Together received some £862,000 in cash and non-cash donations of which £739,000, according to Holden, were not reported in accordance with electoral law, within 30 days of receipt. During that period McSweeney was the company secretary of Labour Together until 4 April 2020 – the day that Starmer was elected as leader of the Labour Party and appointed McSweeney as his Chief of Staff. 

In September 2020, the new company secretary of Labour Together self-reported its previous non-compliance to the Electoral Commission and following an investigation the Commission fined Labour Together £14,250, a fine which was paid in September 2021.   

Within that sum of £862,000 given to Labour Together, 85 per cent came from two individuals. The larger sum (£585,992) came from Martin Taylor, who is briefly described as a hedge fund manager with interests in private healthcare.  There is no mention of his investment activities in respect of Russia and Eastern Europe after the end of the Cold War.

The second is Trevor Chinn who contributed £175,500.  Earlier on in the book, Holden describes him as a wealthy entrepreneur with a history of funding politicians on the Labour Right and then goes on for almost a page to outline his links with Israel dating back to 1973 right up to present times.     

In the 2 years to June 2017, Labour Together received just £121,000 in donations, all from Martin Taylor and all duly reported. I was curious as to the £123,000 worth of donations between June 2017 and September 2020 that Holden considers were properly reported. Checking the Electoral Commission’s register, there were £123,000 of donations made between June 2017 and January 2018, with £88,000 received from Taylor and £35,000 from Chinn. 

After early 2018, there is a major shift in practice when donations are not properly reported. Holden records that in late 2017, McSweeney who was now Company Secretary of Labour Together contacted the Electoral Commission. According to the Commission’s call log, McSweeney had queried whether Labour Together needed to declare donations as they were not a campaigning organisation. The Commission clarified that they still needed to declare donations in the appropriate manner. 

Holden comments that McSweeney had already set out a strategy which demonstrated that Labour Together would be a campaigning organisation (against the Left and Corbyn) and contests much of what was advanced by Labour Together/McSweeney as to why they did not declare donations made between 2018 and 2020.  Holden argues that Starmer benefitted from research of the views of Labour Party members in mid-2019 which enabled Starmer to frame his campaign for Leader of the Labour Party in early 2020, appealing to the Party members as a Corbyn continuity candidate.

He also points out that Labour Together received 4 donations of £147,500 – £120,000 from Taylor and £27,500 from Chinn – in January and February 2020. This was during the period of the Labour Leadership contest when Labour Together were secretly backing Starmer’s campaign while telling the public it was not supporting any particular candidate. Those donations were not reported to the Electoral Commission within the required 30 day period. And they were not reported until 10 December 2020.

As well as displaying scepticism and antipathy towards Labour Together, you can sense a degree of frustration on Holden’s part with the investigation conducted by the Electoral Commission, not least because it refused FOI (Freedom of Information) requests for copies of its investigative report into Labour Together.  He argues that there should be a reinvestigation of the matter based what is known now but wasn’t known in 2020 and 2021.  

Once again, Holden has done incredibly valuable work despite what I think are 3 thematic mistakes – the depiction of McSweeney as the evil genius, the presentation of Starmer as a largely empty suit and casting the Labour Left as being the innocent victims of what happened to them between 2016 and 2024.  I also think he missed opportunities to make relevant points.   

Firstly, why did the fact that Martin Taylor singlehandedly funded Labour Together in its early period not serve as a ‘red flag’ on top of the actions of Steve Reed and Lisa Nandy – two of its three MP directors?

Second, while the fine of £14,250 fine imposed by the Electoral Commission may appear to be quite small when set against the amount of donations not properly reported, the maximum fine that the Electoral Commission can impose is £20,000. The Electoral Commission is limited in its scope to put manners on the financial misbehaviour of the political class. 

The third point is that the date on which donations of £147,500 made in early 2020 were eventually reported to the Electoral Commission (10 December 2020) was the day after the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for failing to report the donation of some £52,000 for the refurbishment of 11 Downing Street which was serving as Boris Johnson’s residence, a controversy described in the UK MSM as Boris Johnson’s Wallpapergate.  Maybe the date and the decision to report some of Labour Together’s donations was purely coincidental and not another example of some on the Labour Right looking for a good day to bury bad news.