Louise Haigh was forced out of the Cabinet after Sir Keir Starmer was not prepared to publicly defend her past conduct, insiders believe.
The transport secretary resigned late Thursday night after reports emerged of the 2014 offence of fraud by false representation, to which Haigh pleaded guilty after reporting a work phone stolen to the police after she was “mugged while on a night out” before later discovering it had not been taken.
While Haigh’s allies said she informed the Prime Minister of the offence when she was appointed to Labour’s shadow cabinet in 2020, Starmer felt that “further information” had come to light in The Times and Sky News which he was not previously told about, No 10 indicated.
The i Paper understands this includes claims that there were repeated instances of her phone going missing which prompted an investigation by her former employer Aviva, who The Times said, reported the matter to the police.
An ally of Haigh said it was “absolute bollocks that there were repeat offences” but acknowledged that she had also lost a phone on holiday in Portugal as well as being mugged.
Downing Street also believes that Haigh broke the Ministerial Code by failing to properly declare her spent fraud conviction to the Department for Transport permanent secretary when she was appointed to the Cabinet.
While Starmer took the ultimate decision, reports that his powerful new chief of staff Morgan McSweeney asked Haigh to resign were not disputed.
The events left a bitter taste in the mouth of Haigh’s allies however, with one suggesting “she feels like she kept No 10 abreast of everything, or certainly the Prime Minister by telling him everything when she was appointed to shadow cabinet” as Northern Ireland secretary in 2020.
Starmer was also said to have been “personally supportive” of Haigh when she initially told him, and the former minister believed that her past disclosure was sufficient as she was subsequently promoted through the shadow ranks and ultimately to the Cabinet.
Ultimately, friends of Haigh said her sacking felt like Starmer running out of patience having previously rebuked the MP for calling for a boycott of P&O Ferries over a “fire and rehire” row which nearly scuppered the Government’s investment summit in October after the firm’s owners threatened to pull a £1bn investment in the UK, before later deciding to proceed.
Insiders also believed McSweeney wanted to sack Haigh since replacing Sue Gray as No 10 chief of staff following a bitter power struggle and briefing war.
“Morgan obviously doesn’t like her because she was close to Sue Gray, there was that stuff with P&O and a month later she’s gone,” one ally said.
A friend of Haigh added: “Keir just didn’t want to expend any more political capital on Lou. That’s fair enough, she felt like a bit of a misfit in that Cabinet.”
No 10 could have ridden out the scandal, “but didn’t want to”, the friend added.
Haigh’s departure brought condemnation from fellow Labour MPs, who believed Starmer could have done more to defend her.
“She’s great, I don’t understand why she’s gone. This is a real mistake. He’s prepared to defend Rachel on her CV stuff, which is clearly cutting through. Why isn’t he defending Lou? Seems odd,” a Labour MP told The i Paper.
Another MP said Haigh’s departure was “a shame” and questioned why Starmer was sacking her now when he knew about the offence, adding, “Is it because it appeared in the papers?”
They added: “They [No 10] don’t like her do they?”
A Labour insider said there had been “chatter after the P&O thing about her getting bumped off”.
“I didn’t expect it so soon,” the insider added.
In a bizarre briefing on Friday, a No 10 spokesman repeatedly told journalists her resignation came after “further information” emerged.
But he did not confirm whether Starmer had known about the conviction or specify what the new information was.
Asked if the PM believed Haigh was completely candid when she was appointed to his shadow cabinet, the spokesman said he would not “get in to individual conversations”.
He repeated that ministers are expected to adhere to the Ministerial codC, but did not say how the code applied to Haigh’s resignation.
Asked whether she was asked to resign or offered to, he said: “She resigned.”
In her resignation letter to Starmer, Haigh, who was replaced as Transport Secretary by Heidi Alexander, said: “I should have immediately informed my employer and not doing so straight away was a mistake.
“I appreciate that whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this Government and the policies to which we are both committed.”
Haigh pleaded guilty in court over the incident on the advice of a solicitor, and magistrates gave her the “lowest possible outcome”, she said in a statement.
In an unusually short reply, the Prime Minister wrote: “Thank you for all you have done to deliver this Government’s ambitious transport agenda.
“You have made huge strides to take our rail system back into public ownership through the creation of Great British Railways, investing £1bn in our vital bus services and lowering cost for motorists.
“I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”
Analysis: Ruthless Starmer has created the first Cabinet to be made up entirely of state-educated ministers
If the occupants of Westminster were in any doubt of the ruthlessness of Sir Keir Starmer, then they need look no further than the ousting of Louise Haigh from the Cabinet.
Just a few hours after reports emerged about a prior conviction in regards to a petty fraud, Haigh was out of her job as transport secretary, having been told to fall on her sword.
In truth, the MP for Sheffield Heeley’s card had been marked for several weeks.
Just days before a major international investment summit was being held last month, which No 10 was billing as central to its commitment to delivering growth, Haigh urged the public to “boycott” P&O Ferries, prompting its parent group, DP World, to threaten to pull a £1bn project.
The row had infuriated No 10, meaning any further slip up from the youngest member of the Cabinet was likely to be her last.
Fingers have been pointed at Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney as being responsible for the ruthless efficiency shown in response to the latest scandal, but while McSweeney and Starmer are likely to be of one mind on such matters, the Prime Minister has repeatedly shown he is willing to be merciless.
The decision to ease out Sue Gray, an ally of Haigh’s, and hand McSweeney the role as his right-hand man was Starmer’s. Similarly, he showed no misgivings about overlooking Emily Thornberry when it came to appointing his Cabinet after the election, who had been a mainstay in the shadow cabinet.
In appointing Heidi Alexander, the Prime Minister has once again seized the opportunity to bring in a close ally in place of someone from the “soft left”, and in so doing he has created history by creating the first Cabinet to be formed entirely by ministers from state school backgrounds.
Starmer will no doubt regret having to force out a member of his Cabinet so early in his tenure, but he has once again shown he will not shy away from taking cold-blooded decisions.
Richard Vaughan
Chief Political Correspondent
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