[3] Discharged from the army in November 1917 he continued campaigning for peace but was arrested in February 1918 and sentenced to three months imprisonment in Armley Gaol.

[5] Following the demise of the NUX as a national body, Simmons remained active on these issues in local organisations and when later elected to Parliament lobbied persistently on behalf of the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen's Association (BLESMA).

[11] The election had been very bitter, with Simmons issuing a leaflet accusing Steel-Maitland of abusing his position as Minister for Labour and using a charitable fund to subsidise colliery owners to employ miners at less than the minimum wage.

Simmons found work as a political journalist, editing the Town Crier, the journal of the Birmingham Trades Council, from 1940–1945.

[2] Simmons was nominated as Labour candidate for Birmingham West at the 1945 general election, in opposition to the sitting Conservative MP Walter Higgs.

[18] He was a member of the Labour Government 1945-1951 as a Lord of the Treasury from 30 March 1946 to 1 February 1949, after which he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Pensions.

[22] Simmons was a strong advocate of the Temperance movement, and campaigned for fourteen-year-old children to be banned from the bars of clubs.