Former Labour minister Josh Simons has publicly addressed his involvement in commissioning a 2023 report concerning two journalists, admitting he did not thoroughly review the contract for the work and citing his age at the time.

Simons, the MP for Makerfield and former director of the Labour Together think tank, resigned from his Cabinet Office ministerial position in February. This followed accusations that he authorized a £36,000 payment to the US public relations firm Apco Worldwide to investigate journalists. Although an investigation by the prime minister’s ethics adviser found no breach of the ministerial code, Simons stated his resignation was motivated by a desire to avoid being a "distraction" from government work.

Speaking recently, Simons acknowledged that the contract, which Apco drafted and he subsequently signed, contained terms "broader" than his original intent. He clarified that his objective for the commission was to ascertain whether information included in specific news reporting had been obtained unlawfully or was connected to a cyber-attack. However, disclosures in February indicated that Simons, then leading Labour Together, had hired Apco to examine the "backgrounds and motivations" of Gabriel Pogrund, a Whitehall editor, and Harry Yorke, who was then a deputy political editor.

Reflecting on the process, Simons admitted his oversight, stating he "didn’t read the contract very carefully," attributing this to being 30 years old at the time. He indicated that, given the opportunity to revisit the situation, he would implement "tighter guardrails" and ensure legal counsel drafted such agreements, rather than accepting terms presented by the commissioning company.