Overview

• Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake has asked the Electoral Commission to launch a formal inquiry and refer the matter to police over alleged non-reporting of more than £700,000 in donations from 2018 to 2020.
• Labour Together says it flagged concerns in 2020 and fully cooperated with the watchdog, which fined the group £14,250 in September 2021 for more than 20 reporting breaches.
• Reports of leaked emails and legal advice from lawyer Gerald Shamash describe presenting the failures as an administrative error and limiting publicity, claims the Conservatives say undermine earlier explanations.
• Morgan McSweeney led Labour Together until April 2020 before joining Keir Starmer’s team and is now the prime minister’s chief of staff, with No 10 directing inquiries to the group.
• Deputy prime minister David Lammy dismissed the Tory push as “muckraking,” and no new Electoral Commission investigation or criminal probe has been announced, while a forthcoming book, The Fraud, is expected to revisit the episode.