Hasan Piker And Cenk Uygur Were Banned By Labour Together Party–Not Labour Party
By Paul Holden|Drop Site News Photos: YouTube Screenshots|Wikimedia Commons After Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur were banned from entering the UK earlier this week, reportedly because of their criticism of Israel, Piker commented that he “would never have imagined that a [Labour] government would ban me from entering the UK.” Indeed, millions of UK voters would likely agree. But Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is not really a Labour government; it came to power on the back of a secret project to wrest control of the Labour Party back from an ascendant left wing. This secret project was resourced by illegally undeclared money from wealthy donors, funneled through a seemingly anodyne think tank called Labour Together. It involved covertly seeding promiscuous claims of antisemitism against political opponents, attempting to silence independent media that threatened to expose its project, and—ultimately—developing the dishonest leadership pitch that allowed Keir Starmer to trick a left-wing membership to elect him leader. Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary responsible for the ban on Piker and Uygur, was one of a ‘brave band’ of eight MPs that guided the Labour Together project during the leadership of Starmer’s left-wing predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. The MP who has most loudly demanded Piker and Uygur’s banning is David Taylor. Elected in 2024 as part of the Labour’s landslide, Taylor was closely vetted and approved by a Labour Party bureaucracy reporting directly to Labour Together’s long-time former managing director. And the single largest donor to Taylor’s election campaign was Labour Together. Piker and Uygur were not banned by the Labour Party—they were banned by the Labour Together party. The primary architect of the Labour Together project is Morgan McSweeney, who was, until recently, Starmer’s chief of staff and widely understood as the real force running the government. McSweeney resigned in February after it was revealed he had pushed Peter Mandelsohn as the UK’s ambassador to the U.S., despite knowing of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. I know McSweeney’s capacity for destroying free speech—and especially criticism of Israel—first-hand. I have been investigating the Labour Together Project since 2021, setting out my findings in my book, “The Fraud.” As a result, I was one of multiple journalists targeted by Labour Together. I was reported by Labour Together to the UK’s cybersecurity agency, in an apparent attempt to catalyze criminal investigations into me and my colleagues. I was forced to fend off repeated allegations, briefed to the media by Labour Together, that I was under investigation by the UK’s security services on the basis of ludicrous suggestions that my colleagues and I at the small anti-corruption non-profit Shadow World Investigations were patsies of Russia. The allegations are totally false, and obviously so, not least because we have faced legal and extra-legal threats for reporting on the corruption of Russian oligarchs. In 2026, the Guardian confirmed that, despite Labour Together’s best efforts, the UK’s security services declined to open an investigation into me based on tawdry and fabricated conspiracy theories. I am still trying to find out exactly how far these damaging smears traveled. According to a senior investigative reporter at The Times, copies of a highly defamatory and genuinely insane report about me, my family, and colleagues was “disseminated widely in Westminster and Fleet Street.” Did this stop or chill mainstream reporting of my book? I’m still trying to find out.. But in a media environment already hostile to left-wing journalists, I doubt it helped.
By Paul Holden|Drop Site News
Photos: YouTube Screenshots|Wikimedia Commons
After Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur were banned from entering the UK earlier this week, reportedly because of their criticism of Israel, Piker commented that he “would never have imagined that a [Labour] government would ban me from entering the UK.” Indeed, millions of UK voters would likely agree.

But Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is not really a Labour government; it came to power on the back of a secret project to wrest control of the Labour Party back from an ascendant left wing. This secret project was resourced by illegally undeclared money from wealthy donors, funneled through a seemingly anodyne think tank called Labour Together. It involved covertly seeding promiscuous claims of antisemitism against political opponents, attempting to silence independent media that threatened to expose its project, and—ultimately—developing the dishonest leadership pitch that allowed Keir Starmer to trick a left-wing membership to elect him leader.
Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary responsible for the ban on Piker and Uygur, was one of a ‘brave band’ of eight MPs that guided the Labour Together project during the leadership of Starmer’s left-wing predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
The MP who has most loudly demanded Piker and Uygur’s banning is David Taylor. Elected in 2024 as part of the Labour’s landslide, Taylor was closely vetted and approved by a Labour Party bureaucracy reporting directly to Labour Together’s long-time former managing director. And the single largest donor to Taylor’s election campaign was Labour Together.
Piker and Uygur were not banned by the Labour Party—they were banned by the Labour Together party. The primary architect of the Labour Together project is Morgan McSweeney, who was, until recently, Starmer’s chief of staff and widely understood as the real force running the government. McSweeney resigned in February after it was revealed he had pushed Peter Mandelsohn as the UK’s ambassador to the U.S., despite knowing of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
I know McSweeney’s capacity for destroying free speech—and especially criticism of Israel—first-hand. I have been investigating the Labour Together Project since 2021, setting out my findings in my book, “The Fraud.” As a result, I was one of multiple journalists targeted by Labour Together. I was reported by Labour Together to the UK’s cybersecurity agency, in an apparent attempt to catalyze criminal investigations into me and my colleagues.
I was forced to fend off repeated allegations, briefed to the media by Labour Together, that I was under investigation by the UK’s security services on the basis of ludicrous suggestions that my colleagues and I at the small anti-corruption non-profit Shadow World Investigations were patsies of Russia. The allegations are totally false, and obviously so, not least because we have faced legal and extra-legal threats for reporting on the corruption of Russian oligarchs. In 2026, the Guardian confirmed that, despite Labour Together’s best efforts, the UK’s security services declined to open an investigation into me based on tawdry and fabricated conspiracy theories.
I am still trying to find out exactly how far these damaging smears traveled. According to a senior investigative reporter at The Times, copies of a highly defamatory and genuinely insane report about me, my family, and colleagues was “disseminated widely in Westminster and Fleet Street.” Did this stop or chill mainstream reporting of my book? I’m still trying to find out.. But in a media environment already hostile to left-wing journalists, I doubt it helped.
