Makerfield MP has been under pressure over thinktank’s commissioning of PR firm to investigate reporters

The Labour minister Josh Simons has resigned from the government after the Guardian revealed that he falsely linked reporters to a “pro-Kremlin” network in emails to GCHQ despite having claimed to be “surprised” and “furious” about a PR firm’s investigation into their journalism.

Simons, who had been a Cabinet office minister, previously ran the thinktank Labour Together. He quit on Saturday, saying his position in office had become “a distraction from this government’s important work.”The Makerfield MP had faced mounting pressure over his role in Labour Together’s commissioning of the lobbying and public affairs agency APCO to investigate journalists reporting on the thinktank’s failure to disclose political donations.