January 1, Labour Operative Plotted to Silence Free Speech

Wyatt’s Take

• Labour’s top official secretly targeted non-mainstream news voices.
• Groups labeled as grassroots actually worked to shut down media they disliked.
• This led to silencing both right and left-leaning outlets in the UK and beyond.

The UK Labour Party, even before gaining power, was moving to stamp out voices it didn’t like, acting against both left and right-leaning media. Morgan McSweeney, now the party leader’s chief of staff, led groups that hid their real agenda behind fake grassroots efforts.

These groups, claiming to fight so-called “fake news,” actually tried to cripple news outlets—especially those willing to cover folks like President Trump or Nigel Farage in a positive light. Their strategy included trying to demonetize these outlets and urging advertisers to blacklist them, all while operating in secret.

Paul Holden, a journalist, reported,

“McSweeney and his allies blew up British politics, with a blast radius that extended across the pond to the United States… to launch an astroturf campaign that mounted a ferocious attack on non-conformist media and free speech on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The campaign made ad-hominem attacks against President Trump and worked to ensure news sites like Breitbart couldn’t get advertising from the UK government. McSweeney’s “Labour Together” think tank set up other unreported outfits, including Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN) and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), using big donations that went unreported for years in violation of British law.

Between 2018 and 2020, Labour Together received £739,000 it failed to report, breaking the rules and getting fined for it in 2021. These efforts formed lists to help advertisers avoid “unwanted” sites and coached companies to shut out media deemed problematic.

One result: advertiser boycotts hurt outlets on both sides, even left-wing ones that clashed with Labour’s leadership ideas. Efforts went far enough that Ford UK responded on Twitter, distancing itself when told its ads showed up on Breitbart. SFFN also kept a public blocklist for companies to use against independent sites.

This whole operation wasn’t about honesty or fairness—it was about cementing power by shutting up anyone who didn’t fall in line.

These kinds of secretive moves hurt trust and limit what regular folks get to read and decide for themselves. When groups hide their true backers and quietly push to silence news, it’s Middle America that misses out on real stories and voices.

Wyatt Matters

Middle America believes in honest news, open debate, and a fair shot for all voices. When the powerful try to silence independent reporting, it hurts working people everywhere who just want the truth. We stand against backroom moves that keep folks in the dark.

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