Caroline Wheeler and colleagues no longer labouring together at Sunday Times

A politely-worded press statement can hide all sorts of woes. The Sunday Times this week waves goodbye to its political editor of nine years, Caroline Wheeler.

”Caroline Wheeler has decided to leave the Sunday Times to explore new opportunities,” says the newspaper’s statement. “We are grateful for her hard work and contribution to the paper over the last nine years and wish her the best with her future endeavours.”

Warm words indeed – but behind the scenes, it seems several of Wheeler’s colleagues might be particularly happy to see the last of her. The Sunday Times was at the centre of a recent scandal involving Labour Together, in which the think tank founded by Morgan McSweeney hired a public affairs company to investigate several of its journalists.

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Gabriel Pogrund, one of the paper’s star investigative reporters, was among those targeted by the investigators, which was said to include unproven allegations stories had been based on material hacked by Russia. The dossier also allegedly included unsubstantiated allegations about the personal lives of some of the reporters it mentioned.

All of this caused particular upset at the Sunday Times as the man responsible for pulling together the dossier was reportedly Tom Harper – a former Sunday Times journalist himself, but notably also the husband of Caroline Wheeler.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, any collegiate warm wishes between the various factions long since evaporated, amid various calls for internal investigations and inquiries. There is no sign any of these found any wrongdoing, but Wheeler’s decision to leave the newspaper might save embarrassment all round.

Still, the rumour in Westminster is that Wheeler has already secured a new job in the lobby. Her new colleagues must be delighted to welcome her.