Why Josh Simons Resigned From Government

为何乔什·西蒙斯从政府辞职

Newscast

2026-03-29

49 分钟
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Today, Laura and Paddy have an exclusive first full length interview with Josh Simons, who recently quit as a government minister. A think tank he used to run - Labour Together - commissioned a report that looked into the background of journalists after the Sunday Times ran a story about them. He says he was ‘naive’ and he was ‘so sorry’. He also worked at Facebook owners Meta for several years and gave evidence at the landmark social media addiction trial which the tech giant, along with YouTube, lost this week. They discuss his resignation from government, online safety across the board and the current state of the Labour Party. Apply for tickets to Castfest here https://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/castfest-2026 You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn with Chloe Scannapieco. The social producer was Gabriel Purcell-Davis. The technical producer was Stephen Bailey. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. And with thanks to our team in Salford for letting us use the BBC Breakfast studio; Stephen Maziere, Simon Plumb and Ronan Malloy.
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  • So Paddy, every now and again, a news story comes along that is important and interesting and politically significant,

  • but also sometimes just downright strange.

  • And today we're going to be talking about one of those curiosities.

  • Well, it was more than a curiosity because it was a resignation of a government minister.

  • And I think as well, it would have had far more prominence in our lives if it wasn't for the tides of the news.

  • It sort of ebbed because of war.

  • That's absolutely right.

  • So today we will be talking to a man who was a government minister, Josh Simons.

  • He had to resign, having been at the heart of a big controversy about a Labour organisation that was always charged with having

  • been part of getting Keir Starmer into power.

  • But he also curiously finds himself involved in one of the other huge news stories of this week.

  • In a bizarre twist of fate, Josh Simons, who 's still a Labour MP,

  • worked at Meta, who of course found themselves at the heart of one of the huge big news stories of this week,

  • found alongside Google of producing algorithms and products that are addictive,

  • and they lost a landmark legal case in the United States.

  • So there are two very good reasons to speak to Josh Simons,

  • the former Labour Minister, who on this Saturday's newscast is giving us his first

  • proper interview about his resignation.

  • On this Saturday's edition of Newscast.

  • Hello, it's Laura in the studio.