Josh Simons

Josh Simons
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital Government
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 January 2026
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byOffice established
Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 September 2025
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byGeorgia Gould
Abena Oppong-Asare
Member of Parliament
for Makerfield
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byYvonne Fovargue
Majority5,399 (13.4%)
Personal details
BornJoshua Cameron Simons
(1993-07-24) 24 July 1993
PartyLabour
Children2
Alma materSt John's College, Cambridge (BA)
Harvard University (PhD)

Josh Simons (born 24 July 1993) is a British Labour Party politician who was elected Member of Parliament for Makerfield in 2024. He was appointed a Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office in 2025, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital Government at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 9 January 2026.

He was under investigation in early 2026 for identifying journalists who had published an article unfavourable to Labour Together, a thinktank he ran, naming them to British intelligence, and falsely linking them to pro-Russian propaganda.[1]

Early life and education

Josh Simons was born on 24 July 1993.[2][3] His father was Jewish and from Bury, Greater Manchester.[3] He was educated at The Perse School in Cambridge.[4]

Simons was an undergraduate at St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied for a Bachelor of Arts in Social and Political Sciences, supervised by Helen Thompson.[5] He was an editor of the student newspapers Varsity and The Tab.

Early career and academia

Simons worked at Cambridge University as a research assistant to Amartya Sen from 2014 until 2015, when he moved to the Institute of Public Policy Research.

He became a policy adviser to the Leader of the Opposition in 2015, following Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour Leader. Simons moved from the Leader's Office to London Labour in 2016, and returned to Cambridge as a research assistant to Helen Thompson later in the year.

Simons has cited "persistent failure" to tackle antisemitism for his resignation from Corbyn's office.[5][6] He later contributed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation into Labour antisemitism.

Simons studied for a doctorate in Government, Political Theory and Political Science at Harvard University from 2016 to 2021. His doctorate was supervised by academics Michael Sandel, Danielle Allen, Richard Tuck and Cynthia Dwork. It was adapted into his book Algorithms for the People: Democracy in the Age of AI.[7][8] Simons continued at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow.

Simons worked for Meta in its artificial intelligence program.[9] In 2019 he worked for Civic Power Fundas a fundraiser.[4]

Simons has been a fellow at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, the Institute for the Future of Work, and New America. He has also been a trustee of the New Economics Foundation and Engage Britain, and a governor of the NHS Northern Care Alliance.

Simons stood as a Labour and Co-operative candidate in the 2021 Bury Council election, finishing second-place to the Conservative candidate in Church ward.[10]

Simons was director of the think tank Labour Together from 2022 until his Parliamentary selection in 2024.[11] In February 2026 it was reported that PR firm APCO Worldwide had investigated the private affairs of several journalists when commissioned by Labour Together, whilst Simons was director, to ascertain the source of reports about Labour Together's late declaration of certain donations.[12] The Sunday Times reported that the APCO report was written by a former Sunday Times employee and was shown to Labour shadow cabinet members, falsely suggesting that two Sunday Times journalists were part of a Russian campaign to politically harm Starmer. Labour Together sent a shorter version of the APCO report to GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which declined to investigate.[13] Subsequently the prime minister Keir Starmer ordered the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team to investigate the claims about the Labour Together report.[14] Simons claimed that by including this information in its report APCO Worldwide had gone beyond what had been asked of them. He welcomed the launch of an investigation into APCO Worldwide's conduct by the Public Relations and Communications Association.[13][15] The Guardian newspaper on 20 February 2026 reported that it had seen the emails to NCSC and disclosed some of their contents, and that there were calls for Simons to resign.[1]

Parliamentary career

MP

Simons was elected as MP for Makerfield at the 2024 general election.[16] He was selected by Labour's National Executive Committee several weeks before the election, after Yvonne Fovargue announced that she wouldn't seek re-election.[17]

Simons is a co-founder and co-chair of the Labour Growth Group, a pro-business and anti-regulation pressure group within the Labour Party.[18]

PPS

In November 2024, Simons was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). He subsequently became a PPS for the Ministry of Justice.[19]

Minister

In the 2025 British cabinet reshuffle, Simons was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, covering the maternity leave of Satvir Kaur under the standing orders of Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021.[20] On 9 January 2026 Simons was additionally appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology[21], responsible for supporting and providing assurance to the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office and the Secretary of State for DSIT on the design and cross-government delivery of digital ID, data transformation and digital public services.[22]

Personal life

Simons met his wife at Harvard University. They have two children.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Dyer, Henry; Sabbagh, Dan (20 February 2026). "Labour minister falsely linked journalists to 'pro-Kremlin' network in emails to GCHQ". The Guardian.
  2. ^ Blewett, Sam (24 July 2024). "The prosecutor becomes the defendant". POLITICO. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b Jackson, Nick (19 June 2024). "Meet Labour's new contender for Wigan's Makerfield seat". Wigan Today.
  4. ^ a b c Brown, Rivkah (6 June 2024). "Who Is 'Starmtrooper' Josh Simons?". Novara Media. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b Eaton, George (20 May 2024). "What does Labour Together want?". New Statesman. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  6. ^ Simons, Josh (10 September 2016). "Why Jews in Labour place little trust in Jeremy Corbyn". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Joshua Simons". scholar.harvard.edu. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Josh Simons". Bennett Institute. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  9. ^ Stacey, Kiran (14 October 2024). "Westminster's reliance on Elon Musk's X is 'totally wrong', says Labour MP". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  10. ^ "Election results". Bury Council. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  11. ^ "Think-tank director selected as Labour's candidate for Makerfield in upcoming general election". Wigan Today. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  12. ^ Grierson, Jamie (6 February 2026). "Labour thinktank close to Morgan McSweeney 'paid firm to investigate journalists'" – via The Guardian.
  13. ^ a b Midolo, Emanuele (14 February 2026). "Labour activists paid for smear campaign against journalists". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026.
  14. ^ "PM orders investigation into Labour Together claims". BBC News. 16 February 2026. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  15. ^ Quinn, Ben; Dyer, Henry (15 February 2026). "Starmer facing calls for inquiry into Labour thinktank's investigation of journalists". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  16. ^ "Makerfield - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  17. ^ Belger, Daniel Green, Tom (29 May 2024). "Selections drama as Waugh and Starmer allies Akehurst and Simons picked but Russell-Moyle out and Shaheen 'at risk'". LabourList. Retrieved 31 July 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Maguire, Patrick (5 August 2024). "How No 10 is shoring up Labour group of shock troops". The Times. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  19. ^ Graham, Charles (12 January 2026). "My job will be to make government work better for millions of people across Britain". Wigan Today. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  20. ^ Bardsley, Andrew (7 September 2025). "Winners and losers as Greater Manchester MPs affected by Government reshuffle". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  21. ^ "Appointment: 9 January 2026". GOV.UK.
  22. ^ "Josh Simons MP". GOV.UK.
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