Prior to taking on his first ministerial posting, the member for Bury North has previously worked for public relations outfits, social enterprises, and played the UK’s most famous music festival

The recently departed minister overseeing government’s rollout of digital identity has been swiftly replaced with James Frith, a former musician, recruitment consultant, and PR and public affairs adviser.

Josh Simons this week announced that he was resigning from his post, which was split between the Cabinet Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. His departure came following a probe from the prime minister’s key adviser on ministerial ethics; while the investigation cleared him of any code breaches, Simons said he was leaving government as he had “become a distraction from this government’s important work”.

Since January, his post as an under-secretary of state has been staunchly focused on government’s plans for a new state-issued digital ID.

The GOV.UK profile for the ministerial role has now been updated, to reflect the appointment of Frith (pictured above), the Labour MP for Bury North. Although the page has yet to be furnished with specific details of his brief, but it does indicate he is a direct replacement for Simons.

Frith was first elected as the member for his constituency in 2017, before losing his seat in 2019. He was re-elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

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In his younger days, Frith was a musician, and reportedly played in a band that performed at the Glastonbury festival.  His career outside Westminster has taken in stints as a recruitment consultancy and an as adviser for PR and public affairs firms.

He also founded the social enterprise All Together, which is focused on the improvement of skills and career opportunities for young people.

In the role newly vacated by Simons, the outgoing minister was “responsible for supporting and providing assurance to the chief secretary to the prime minister and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office and the secretary of state for DSIT on the design and cross-government delivery of the digital ID programme”.

The programme in question was announced by Keir Starmer six months ago, and was originally scheduled to mandate the use of formal digital ID as part of Home Office employment checks by 2029. This mandatory use will no longer be a introduced, but government still plans to create an electronic identity document that will be available to citizens on a voluntary basis.