Breaking: Simons flings smears as he quits ministerial post over spying scandal

Starmeroid front-bencher Josh Simons has resigned as digital government minister over the scandal of Labour Together spying on journalists. These were journalists who were investigating its shady activities and undeclared funding.

Buh-Bye

From 2022 to 2024, Simons ran the sabotage outfit, Labour Togther. He took over after disgraced Morgan McSweeney moved on to become Keir Starmer’s (now former) chief of staff. However, Simons has not resigned his parliamentary seat.

All too typically, the resignation letter is full of self-exoneration and excuses. Instead of taking responsibility, the letter leans on Simons’s supposed vindication by Sir Laurie Magnus. Magnus is the supposedly ‘independent’ adviser on ministerial standards. This is farcical, when Simons’s own leaked WhatsApp messages revealed that Starmer had told Magnus to conduct only a fast (i.e cursory) investigation.

With a complete failure of self-awareness, Simons frames his departure in terms of the public’s justified low trust in politicians. And, like any good Israel apologist, he had to slip in a spurious reference to so-called ‘Labour antisemitism’ to smear the diligent, professional, independent authors, and journalists who exposed Labour Together.

Excuses, excuses

This exercise in self-justifying bullshit reads:

Dear Prime Minister,

I welcome that Sir Laurie Magnus has cleared me of breaching the Ministerial Code. It was important to 1ne to complete this process to prove that I behaved with integrity and that my public statements have been truthful and honest.

Nonetheless, it is clear that my remaining in office has now become a distraction from this Govermnent’s important work. For that reason, and with sadness and regret, I offer my resignation. It has been an honour to serve this great country.

The work of reporters like Gabriel Pogrund, Hany Yorke, and Henry Dyer sustains our democracy. With rigour and objectivity, they hold those in positions of power to account. In an age when trust in politics is low, anything perceived to be an attack on their integrity and independence deserves thorough investigation.

As I have said many times, I never sought to smear these newspaper reporters. I have not been able to go into detail on these claims while this investigation has been ongoing.

During my time as Chief Executive of Labour Together, I sought to investigate how confidential material had been disclosed, and if it was the result of publicly confirmed hacks, including that of the Electoral Comission. I talked to my board, hired expert lawyers, and commissioned a firm – APCO – who said they had relevant cyber-security expertise. I also filed an official case with the National Cybersecurity Centre so they could establish the facts, who met with Labour Together and thanked us for filing the case. Given the concerns I had, it would have been irresponsible not to do these things.

I should explain why I was so concerned. I feared the narratives that this confidential material would be used to push ahead of an election campaign. After the EHRC investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party, you said “those who seek to blame others or downplay what happened in our party are, themselves, part of the problem.”
I was particularly concerned about the upcoming publication of a book by Paul Holden, who had obtained this confidential material. I believe those concerns were justified. The book diminishes the antisemitism that infected Labour under its previous leadership. It refers constantly to the ‘antisemitism crisis’ in quotation marks, implying it was confected. Its front cover featured an endorsement from [Jewish former Mandela minister] Andrew Feinstein, a man who appeared at an event called “How Jeremy Corbyn was destroyed by a smear campaign led by Israel.” The Labour Party must always be vigilant against denialism and as a Jewish Labour MP, I make no apologies for that vigilance.

What happened subsequently was wrong. Until a few weeks ago, I did not know that the journalists Harry Yorke and Henry Dyer had been labelled as ‘persons of interest’. I did not expect APCO’s report to include reprehensible material on [Jewish journalist] Gabriel Pogrund, and nor did I welcome it. I took immediate action and removed it. What happened to Gabriel was a disgrace.

Some have sought to use this matter to discredit Labour Together. While CEO, I had the privilege of working with talented people who are now ministers, MPs, and advisers. My team was an energetic and curious group, doing om· best to help get a Labour government elected and prepare for government.

I will continue serving the people I am proud to represent in Makerfield, and I will continue to support your Government in pursuit of the radical change our politics and our country needs.

Dirty tricks

Just in case readers are unfamiliar with the case, or are tempted to take anything Simons says at face value, Labour Together were caught paying tens of thousands to a firm run by a fellow Labour right-winger’s wife to spy on independent journalists.

This has been known for months, but the ‘mainstream’ media only started to pay attention when two of MSM-aligned journalists were targeted.

Labour Together is exposed and disgraced. Good riddance to bad rubbish, but Simons’s departure is nowhere near enough.

The country needs them all gone.

Featured image via the Canary