Josh Simons has resigned as a Cabinet Office minister amid a row over a thinktank he used to run, which reportedly collected information on journalists.
Sir Keir Starmer recently confirmed he had asked his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, to look into whether Mr Simons had broken the ministerial code.
Mr Simons said he had been cleared of breaking the code but said that by staying in office he had become a “distraction”.
Mr Simons had been a minister in the Cabinet Office, working on areas such as the government’s digital ID scheme.
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It comes after claims the thinktank Labour Together, which Mr Simons ran before entering government, paid PR firm Apco 36,000 to investigate the background of journalists who ran a negative story on the organisation.
The Sunday Times said Apco produced “deeply personal and false claims” about Gabriel Pogrund, its Whitehall editor, while Harry Yorke, the deputy political editor, was named alongside him. The pair were deemed “persons of significant interest”.
It was also suggested the journalists might be part of a Russian conspiracy or had relied on emails hacked by the Kremlin, according to The Sunday Times.
Mr Simons said in his resignation letter that he “never sought to smear” some newspaper reporters and that Apco had been hired to investigate a potentially illegal hack.
Labour Together was previously run by Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, and was closely associated with helping to Sir Keir win the leadership election following the 2019 general election defeat.
Labour Together was previously run by Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s former chief of staff. Peter MacDiarmid/Shutterstock
The journalists had covered the campaign group’s failure to declare more than £700,000 in donations.
In a letter to the prime minister, Sir Laurie said the ex-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”.
While Sir Laurie said Mr 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.”
Sir Keir Starmer said he has accepted “with sadness” Mr Simons’ resignation.
Allies of Mr Simons defended his actions following his resignation, arguing that he never sought to smear and investigate newspaper reporters but intended to investigate potentially illegal hacks. They added that he “deeply regrets” what subsequently happened.
But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch 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.
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“Josh Simons was in charge of a group that deliberately smeared journalists, even using a journalist’s Jewish faith to call him into question. Labour hasn’t changed.”
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.”
“The organisation is under new leadership, and we are determined to act to the highest standards of transparency and integrity in the work we do. We are improving our governance arrangements and will learn the necessary lessons of the past.”
