Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has made history as the first individual to resign from Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet.
She announced her resignation on Friday following the revelation of her conviction for falsely reporting to the police that her work phone had been stolen during a mugging in 2013.
It is believed that Sir Keir was aware of the conviction, which is now spent, when Ms. Haigh joined the shadow cabinet.
She described the incident as a “genuine mistake,” explaining that she had not realized her phone was at home at the time of the mugging.
But who is Haigh, and what exactly transpired? Here’s everything we know.
Who is Louise Haigh?
Haigh has represented Sheffield Heeley as an MP since 2015.
Before being appointed transport secretary after Labour’s victory in the July election, she held various shadow cabinet and ministerial roles.
She previously served as a special constable for the Met and worked for the insurance company Aviva before entering politics.
Under Jeremy Corbyn, she joined the shadow frontbench in 2015 as the shadow minister for the civil service and digital reform.
In 2020, amid the intense post-Brexit trade negotiations, Ms. Haigh was appointed shadow secretary for Northern Ireland, and in 2021, she became the shadow transport secretary.
After Labour’s general election win, Ms. Haigh was appointed transport secretary on July 5, making her the youngest member of the Cabinet.
Career in Met before politics
As transport secretary, Haigh appointed members to the board overseeing the British Transport Police.
Prior to her political career, she served as a special constable in the Metropolitan Police from 2009 to 2011 in the South London Borough of Lambeth, which is near the area where she was convicted years later.
In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn appointed her as shadow policing minister, where she often drew on her experience in the Met to challenge the Tory government regarding the increasing demands placed on officers.
Sir Keir promoted her to shadow Northern Ireland secretary in 2020 and later moved her to shadow transport secretary in 2021.
Why has Louise Haigh quit?
Haigh has stepped down from her role as transport secretary after pleading guilty to a crime related to falsely reporting the theft of a work mobile device in 2013.
In a letter to Sir Keir, the 37-year-old expressed that while she was “totally committed to our political project,” it would be “best served by my supporting you from outside Government.”
“I am sorry to leave under these circumstances, but I take pride in what we have done. I will continue to fight every day for the people of Sheffield Heeley who I was first and foremost elected to represent and to ensure that the rest of our programme is delivered in full,” she stated.
Regarding the events from 2013 that led to her conviction, she described it as a “genuine mistake.”
It’s understood that the conviction is now spent and that the offense was classified as fraud.
Sir Keir thanked Ms. Haigh for her contributions to advancing the government’s transport agenda.
A spokesperson for the Conservative Party remarked, “Louise Haigh has done the right thing in resigning. It is clear she has failed to behave to the standards expected of an MP.”
They stated that the incident “raises questions about why the prime minister appointed Haigh to the Cabinet with oversight of a £30bn budget.”
“They further emphasized that the responsibility now lies with Keir Starmer to clarify this apparent lapse in judgment to the British public,” they added.
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