Ethics watchdog to investigate Makerfield MP Josh Simons over think tank allegations
The Prime Minister’s ethics watchdog will investigate Makerfield Josh Simons following allegations a prominent think tank, which he ran before entering government, paid for a probe into journalists.
Labour Together is accused of paying PR firm Apco Worldwide £36,000 to look into the background of journalists in 2023, when Mr Simons was its director.
The journalists had covered the campaign group’s failure to declare more than £700,000 in donations.
Mr Simons, who was only appointed minister for digital government in the Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology and the Cabinet Office last month, has faced calls to resign from his ministerial post.
The issue has been referred to independent adviser on ministerial standards Sir Laurie Magnus, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said.
Sir Keir Starmer previously said he “didn’t know anything about this investigation”, which had been ordered by Labour Together, before instructing the Cabinet Office to “establish the facts”.
In the Commons on Monday (February 23), Mr Jones said: “That work has now concluded and the facts have been reported to the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister has been advised that the matter should be referred now to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, which the Prime Minister has done today.
“This is not a new process, but a continuation of the process the Prime Minister has started, and the Prime Minister will make a judgement when he has received the advice from the independent adviser.
“This will happen very soon, and his advice to the Prime Minister will be made public in the normal way.”
Mr Simons told Wigan Today: “I welcome the decision by the Prime Minister to refer this matter to the Indepedent Adviser on Ministerial Standards and will cooperate fully with this process.
" I continue to serve you and to fight to change things that are long overdue in our area.”
Mr Jones insisted freedom of the press is a “cornerstone of our democracy”, and the Government is committed to upholding and protecting that freedom.
Labour Together is said to have hired Apco Worldwide, which then allegedly investigated reporters from The Sunday Times, The Guardian and other outlets to identify their sources after reports emerged about the think tank.
The PR firm’s probe is said to have resulted in a 58-page report, which included details designed to discredit reporters who had looked into campaign finance breaches by the think tank.
The think tank was fined £14,250 in September 2021 over late reporting of donations, totalling £730,000 between 2017 and 2020, after referring itself to the Electoral Commission.
Shadow chancellor Alex Burghart said it is “difficult to see” how Mr Simons’s position is tenable.
Mr Burghart told MPs that PR firm Apco Worldwide included in its paid-for report to Labour Together “an allegation that those journalists in question had relied on Russian hacking”, which were “entirely spurious”.
He added: “That investigation included details of one journalist’s Jewish faith and made claims about his ideological upbringing and personal relationships.
“The report was then circulated to key members of the Labour Party and to GCHQ, who swiftly said there was no case to answer.
“This looks to all intents and purposes like a deliberate attempt to smear and intimidate journalists whose only crime had been to report that Labour Together had broken electoral law.