PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer was slammed today for failing to sack a minister at the centre of the Labour Together spy scandal.

The think tank was run by Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons MP when it reportedly hired a PR firm to dig up dirt on journalists who revealed more than £700,000 of undeclared donations linked to Sir Keir’s rise to power.

The embattled Labour chief’s own MPs rejected his claims that he had no knowledge of the probe and that the Cabinet Office would investigate.

One of the journalists affected, Andrew Feinstein, told the Morning Star: “Any leader with ethics or principles, with a modicum of commitment to democracy, would have fired Simons immediately. 

“But Labour Together was the vehicle for Starmer’s accession to the leadership so he will protect Simons and Labour Together. 

“It is shameful conduct unbefitting a PM but it is what we have come to accept from the authoritarian Starmer who should be kicked out of office in the interests of British democracy.”

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn also urged the PM to sack Mr Simons as a minister “at the centre of this creepy spy scandal.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said that there was a “disturbing pattern of shady authoritarianism and the world of secret political funding” and claimed Sir Keir “must have known.”

“Come clean. Stop investigating and start acting,” he said.

The spy probe is said to have been carried out by PR firm Apco Worldwide after it was hired by Labour Together following stories about the campaign group’s failure to declare more than £700,000 in donations.

The Sunday Times has followed up allegations by Democracy For Sale newsletter that Apco was paid £36,000 to carry out the investigation in 2023, when the think tank was run by Mr Simons.

Asked whether he would launch an inquiry into the accusations during a visit to a community centre in London, Sir Keir said: “I didn’t know anything about this investigation, and it absolutely needs to be looked into, so the Cabinet Office will be establishing the facts.”

Leeds East Labour MP and Socialist Campaign Group of MPs secretary Richard Burgon said: “These allegations are extremely serious and the Labour Party must start treating them as such.

“It simply does not wash for the Cabinet Office to investigate allegations against an organisation that was, at the time, led by someone who is now a Cabinet Office minister. That risks looking far too much like marking your own homework.

“If we are to get to the truth and ensure trust in the process, what is required is a genuinely independent investigation.”

A spokeswoman for Momentum added: “Allegations that a government minister spied on journalists scrutinising Labour Together are deeply concerning. 

“We agree with MPs like Richard Burgon that a fully independent parliamentary inquiry must take place.”

No 10 declined today to comment specifically on the investigation when asked by reporters for the PM’s view of organisations commissioning investigations into journalists.

His official spokesman also dismissed questions over whether the PM would consider Mr Simons’s position.

John McDonnell MP, former shadow chancellor and secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) parliamentary group, expressed scepticism about the Cabinet Office-led probe.

“So Cabinet Office is ‘assembling the facts’ into the activities of a Cabinet Office minister [and] ex-head of Labour Together,” said the veteran MP, who was among several backbenchers who had called for an official investigation.

“Could I suggest this hardly inspires confidence this will be the thorough [and] independent inquiry into the activities that is needed.”

Mr McDonnell also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he had written four times now to the general secretary of the Labour Party and Sir Keir “to say this is serious, launch an investigation, but that’s not happened” only to be told Labour Together was not a Labour organisation and get referred to a complaints department.

NUJ general secretary Laura Davison said: “Reports of the think tank Labour Together hiring a commercial firm to investigate journalists are deeply concerning and raise serious questions about political interference and respect for press freedom in the UK.”

Dawn Alford, chief executive of the Society of Editors, said that accusations that journalists reporting on Labour Together were investigated for “doing their jobs” is “profoundly troubling.”