Cabinet Office minister Simons resigns over Labour Together ‘distraction’

Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons has resigned, saying he had “become a distraction from this Government’s important work,” following an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser into allegations surrounding the commissioning of a think-tank report.

After completing his investigation, Sir Laurie Magnus confirmed he had found no breach of the Ministerial Code.

However, he wrote to Keir Starmer suggesting the Prime Minister consider whether he still held confidence in Simons given the “potential reputational damage” involved.

In a letter released by No.10, Starmer said he had accepted Simons’ resignation to prevent further distractions to the government, but noted that Simons had not been found to have breached the ministerial code.

Simons is the Jewish MP for Makerfield in the North West, had faced calls to step down over claims that the think tank Labour Together, where he was previously director, paid PR firm Apco Worldwide to investigate the background of journalists in 2023.

In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Simons wrote: “It is clear that my remaining in office has now become a distraction from this Government’s important work. For that reason, and with sadness and regret, I offer my resignation.”

He later posted on X:”The Independent Advisor on Ministerial Standards has cleared me of breaching the ministerial code. But with regret, remaining in office has become a distraction, so I have resigned from government.

“I will continue serving the people I’m proud to represent in Makerfield and pushing for the radical change our politics and country needs. ”

Starmer had ordered the ethics adviser’s investigation after reports emerged that Labour Together had commissioned a report examining journalists’ backgrounds. The think tank paid Apco Worldwide at least £30,000 to “investigate the sourcing, funding and origins” of a Sunday Times story about undeclared donations at the organisation ahead of the 2024 election.

The report by the US public affairs firm included information about journalist Gabriel Pogrund’s Jewish beliefs and made claims about his ideological position.

It also suggested that Pogrund’s previous reporting—including on the royal family—“could be seen as destabilising to the UK and also in the interests of Russia’s strategic foreign policy objectives,” according to sources.

Pogrund, currently Whitehall editor at The Sunday Times and Political Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Press Awards, was one of four journalists named in the Apco report, which was circulated among senior Labour figures and became the subject of Westminster gossip.

Reflecting on the impact of the report, Pogrund said: “I think the detail which has probably ended up causing a lot of heat and a fair amount of revulsion too is the fact that the report used my Jewishness, which is a source of great pride for me.”

He added that the report had “grotesquely subverted that, and said that I must have an odd relationship with my ethno-religious background because of the views that it falsely purported that I hold.”

Simons has previously said that the company had “gone beyond” its remit by including “unnecessary information” in the report.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Magnus said the former minister 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 Simons had acted “in good faith”, he said the MP acknowledged the “perceived gap between his public statements and what he now accepts appears to be a more extensive scope has been damaging”.

Sir Laurie added: “I see no basis for advising you of any breach of the Ministerial Code by Mr Simons but you will wish to consider, in the light of this distraction and potential reputational damage, whether he continues to hold your confidence as a member of your Government.”