UK Transport Secretary Louise Haigh Resigns Over Fraud Conviction

(Bloomberg) -- UK Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet after it emerged that she received a criminal conviction for incorrectly telling police that a work phone was stolen during a mugging in 2013.

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Haigh, 37, wrote to Starmer late on Thursday to quit, expressing fears that the issue “will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government.”

The resignation just five months after Labour won a landslide election victory on July 4 is a blow to Starmer, whose administration has had a rocky start, plagued by revelations about ministers accepting freebies while in opposition, and unpopular Treasury decisions to cut back winter fuel payments to pensioners and ramp up taxation on businesses. That’s led to slumping popularity ratings and rumblings about the need for a reset.

Her decision came after The Times newspaper reported she received a criminal conviction in 2014 over the incident, which occurred while she worked for Aviva Plc and before becoming a member of Parliament in 2015.

In a statement issued late on Thursday prior to her resignation, Haigh said she had been mugged on a night out in 2013, and reported the mobile phone among items she thought had been taken. She had discovered the mobile “some time later,” triggering police attention when she switched it on, she said. In her letter to Starmer, she said it had been a “mistake” not to have immediately told her employer that she had found the phone.

After the matter was referred to the courts, Haigh said she pleaded guilty “despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain” — an argument accepted by the magistrates who “gave me the lowest possible outcome (a discharge).”

Haigh’s team declined to be drawn when asked about reporting in the Times that Aviva had investigated her after she said company mobile phones had been stolen or lost on repeated occasions. They also rejected other reporting that she was dismissed from her role at Aviva due to the incident, saying she resigned.

Haigh had told Starmer about the matter before being appointed to the shadow cabinet in 2020, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Given Starmer’s prior knowledge of the issue, Haigh’s departure sets an apparently low bar for cabinet resignations. Nevertheless, the prime minister had already rebuked Haigh over a prior incident in which she called out the employment practices of P&O Ferries, just as its owner, UAE-based DP World, was about to announce a significant investment in the UK and participate in Labour’s much-heralded international investment summit. DP World threatened to pull out of the conference, though ultimately attended.

In an emailed statement, the Conservative Party said Starmer’s knowledge of the conviction “raises questions as to why the Prime Minister appointed Ms Haigh to Cabinet with responsibility for a £30 billion ($38 billion) budget.”

While criticizing former Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2022 for attending parties during Covid-19 restrictions, Starmer had said that “you can’t be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker.”

During her short tenure, Haigh stewarded a bill through Parliament, taking the nation’s railway services back into public ownership and fulfilling an election promise by Labour. That legislation became law on Thursday.

“This is a once in a generation reform to our railways which will change our country for the better,” she wrote to Starmer. “I take great pride in what we achieved since the election.”

In a strikingly brief two-paragraph response, Starmer thanked Haigh and said: “I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”

(Updates with more detail throughout.)

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