Josh Simons

Josh Simons was born on 24 July 1993.^[5][6] His father was Jewish and from Bury, Greater Manchester.^[6] He was educated at The Perse School in Cambridge.^[7]

At St John's College, Cambridge, Simons read Social and Political Sciences, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, supervised by Helen Thompson.^[8] He was an editor of the student newspapers Varsity and The Tab.^[7] He went on to complete a doctorate in Government, Political Theory and Political Science at Harvard University^[9] which he later adapted into his book Algorithms for the People: Democracy in the Age of AI.^[10][11] He subsequently held a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard.^[12]

After graduating from Cambridge, Simons worked as a research assistant to Amartya Sen at the university before joining the Institute for Public Policy Research in 2015.^[13] That year he became a policy adviser to Jeremy Corbyn following Corbyn's election as Labour leader. Despite reports he resigned after demotion due to "suspected leaking",^[7] Simons cited the party's "persistent failure" to tackle antisemitism as the reason for his departure from Corbyn's office.^[8][14] He later contributed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation into Labour antisemitism.^[15] After leaving the Leader's Office he worked briefly for London Labour before returning to Cambridge as a research assistant to Helen Thompson.^{[citation needed]}

Between 2018 and 2022, Simons worked for Meta as a Visiting Research Scientist in its artificial intelligence programme.^[16] He has subsequently said that during this period he repeatedly warned the company's leadership about the addictive risks of its technology to children.^[17] In 2025, Simons was subpoenaed in multi-district litigation against Meta over social media harms in the United States, and in 2026 two separate American juries found that Meta had knowingly designed addictive products that harmed children, including in the California case for which Simons had been deposed.^[18]

In the 2021 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election, Simons stood as the Labour and Co-operative candidate in Church ward, finishing second to the Conservative candidate.^[19]

In 2022 Simons became the director of the think tank Labour Together,^[20] which he led until his Parliamentary selection in 2024.^[21]

He provoked strong criticism in February 2024 when, during an interview with LBC, he suggested that Channel smuggling gangs should be put on a barge and sent to Scotland. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, condemned the comments as "stupid" and "cringe". Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: "There should be no place in the Labour Party for these disgraceful comments." Simons apologised, saying the remarks were made "in jest".^[22]

In February 2026, it was reported that PR firm APCO Worldwide had investigated the private affairs of several journalists after being commissioned by Labour Together whilst Simons was director, to ascertain the source of reports about Labour Together's late declaration of certain donations.^[23] The Sunday Times reported that the APCO report, named "Operation Cannon", was written by a former Sunday Times employee and was shown to Labour shadow cabinet members, falsely suggesting that two Sunday Times journalists were part of a Russian campaign to politically harm Starmer. Labour Together sent a shorter version of the APCO report to GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which declined to investigate.^[24] Prime minister Keir Starmer asked the Independent Advisor on Ministerial Standards to investigate whether Simons had breached the Ministerial Code.^[25] In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Independent Advisor found there was "no basis" for advising "of any breach of the Ministerial Code" by Simons, but that the story may continue to pose "potential reputational damage" to his government.^[26]

On 1 March 2026, Simons resigned from government, stating that he did not wish to become a "distraction".^[27]

Simons met his wife at Harvard University. They have three children.^[40]