Josh Simons may not be well known outside of Westminster, but his name has generated much controversy in recent weeks – and now he has resigned.
Mr Simons has quit as Cabinet Office minister after an investigation was launched into claims the thinktank he ran – Labour Together – ordered a PR firm to dig into the backgrounds of journalists who were reporting on its activities.
The report the PR firm produced on two Sunday Times journalists, has been widely denounced as a smear campaign by critics.
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Although the investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s independent ethics adviser, found Mr Simons did not breach the ministerial code, Mr Simons allies have said he did the “responsible” thing by resigning and ending the “distraction” to the government.
Here Sky News takes a look at who Josh Simons is and the controversy surrounding his resignation.
Who is Josh Simons?
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Mr Simons was first elected in 2024 as the Labour MP for Makerfield in Greater Manchester.
He quickly rose up the ranks to become a parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office, assisting more senior ministers, before he became one himself. Since January he has served as a junior minister in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
But even before he entered parliament, Mr Simons was building a profile for himself.
In 2022, he became the director of Labour Together, the influential internal thinktank that was previously led by the prime minister’s now-departed chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. It has been credited with Sir Keir’s victory in the Labour leadership contest that followed the party’s 2019 general election defeat.
In 2024, Mr Simons caused controversy when he suggested migrant smuggling gangs could be placed on a barge and shipped “up to the north of Scotland”. He later apologised for the comments.
But it was during his time at Labour Together – whose central mission was to crush Labour’s left and drag the party back into the centre – that Mr Simons began building his reputation as a Starmer loyalist.
Why was Josh Simons investigated?
The central allegations against Mr Simons are that Labour Together paid £36,000 to a US public affairs firm, Apco, to examine the “backgrounds and motivations” of reporters behind a story ahead of the 2024 general election.
Mr Simons was head of Labour Together at the time Apco was paid to look into the journalists, who had reported that the campaign group had failed to declare more than £700,000 in donations.
The Sunday Times said Apco produced “deeply personal and false claims” about Gabriel Pogrund, its Whitehall editor, while Harry Yorke, then deputy political editor, was named alongside him.
Apco’s report suggested the journalists might be part of a Russian conspiracy or had relied on emails hacked by the Kremlin, according to The Sunday Times.
What did the investigation find?
In a letter to the prime minister, ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus said Mr Simons now accepted the terms he agreed with Apco were “wider than he had understood” and he had acted “too hastily in confirming their appointment”.
Sir Laurie said Mr Simons had acted “in good faith” but that he had acknowledged the “perceived gap between his public statements and what he now accepts appears to be a more extensive scope has been damaging”.
What has the reaction been?
In a letter to Mr Simons, Sir Keir thanked Mr Simons for the “commitment, focus, and energy” he brought to the role.
Mr Simons’ allies have also defended him, arguing that he never sought to smear and investigate newspaper reporters but intended to investigate potentially illegal hacks. They said he “deeply regrets” what subsequently happened.
But the Conservatives have unsurprisingly not been so forgiving.
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Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, accused Sir Keir of using the conflict in the Middle East to “sneak out yet another ministerial resignation”.
“Another time he’s lacked the backbone to sack a minister who was obviously in the wrong,” she added.
She added: “Keir Starmer must tell us immediately if he will now end Labour Together’s links with his government and return the tainted money they’ve donated.”
Alison Phillips, the former editor of the Mirror who is now the chief executive of Labour Together, said it had been a “difficult period” for the organisation and those connected to it.
She said she had been “shocked by revelations about the work undertaken on behalf of the organisation more than two years ago, and have cooperated with appropriate inquiries, including that undertaken by the Cabinet Office. Journalists should not have been investigated.”
