Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons resigns over Labour Together ‘distraction’

Labour MP Josh Simons has resigned as a Cabinet Office minister following an investigation into allegations a prominent think tank he ran before entering government paid for a probe into journalists.Although the investigation by Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser found Mr Simons had not breached the Ministerial Code, the Makerfield MP said he had “become a distraction from this Government’s important work”.Mr Simons faced calls to resign after his think tank, Labour Together, was accused of paying PR firm Apco Worldwide £36,000 to investigate the background of journalists who had written stories about it.