Starmer’s leadership race team in hack row

THE Labour leadership race was engulfed in a dirty tricks row last night after Sir Keir Starmer’s team was accused of hacking data on the day his mother-in-law died.

Two of the frontrunner’s staff were reported to the Information Commissioner for allegedly infiltrating party membership data.

But Sir Keir’s team said the claims from party officials were ‘utter nonsense’ and politically motivated.

They then accused Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby – a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn – of writing ‘threatening letters’ to his campaign.

The allegations were made public on the same day Sir Keir’s mother-in-law passed away fol

‘Ending a toxic culture’

lowing an accident. Last night Simon Fletcher, a member of his campaign team, tweeted: ‘It is perhaps not surprising that Keir Starmer’s campaign is under attack, even on the weekend that his mother in law has died.

‘Part of his message is ending a toxic culture. Some are bound to feel invested in that culture.’

Labour is locked in a battle between Sir Keir, who represents the centre-Left, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, seen as Mr Corbyn’s successor.

The row started after Sir Keir’s staff were accused of ‘data-scraping’, which involves hacking information that could help gain campaign support.

He insisted they were investigating a means of penetrating the database– called Dialogue – with no intention to use it.

Jenny Chapman, the former Labour MP who is leading Sir Keir’s campaign, said no one on the team had the ‘capacity’ to hack the party’s databases and ‘wouldn’t do it anyway’.