Keir Starmer refuses to give more details of Louise Haigh resignation
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to reveal more information about Louise Hague’s resignation as transport secretary last week.
Hagrid Step down The revelation comes after she admitted fraud a decade ago, a conviction she reportedly told Sir Keir about in 2020 when he appointed her to his shadow cabinet.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenock asked why the Prime Minister appointed a “convicted fraudster” as his transport minister.
Sir Keir said Hague was right to resign “when new information comes to light”.
But when Badenock asked for details about the new information, he responded: “I don’t disclose private information.”
He added that Hague’s swift resignation was in “stark contrast” to the behavior of the previous Conservative government and accused Badenock of being “obsessed with Westminster issues”.
Badenock said the Prime Minister was “confusing” and he owed MPs “an explanation”.
“What this country needs is politicians of conviction, not politicians of conviction,” she said.
Sir Keir hit back saying both Badenoch’s predecessors had “conviction”, referring to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, Both men were issued fixed penalty notices Breach of coronavirus rules.
A fixed penalty notice does not constitute a criminal conviction if the fine is paid on time.
Last week, Hague became the first minister to resign since the Labor government came to power in July.
Details of her past convictions were revealed by Sky News and The Times on Thursday night.
Haigh later issued a statement providing more details about the incident, which occurred in 2013 while she was working for Aviva Insurance Company.
She said she had reported a robbery to police and a work phone was among the stolen items.
She later said she found the phone in a drawer at home.
She said opening the phone “brought the attention of police” and the matter was referred to the Magistrates Court for making a false report to police.
“On the advice of my lawyer, I pleaded guilty – despite the fact that it was a genuine mistake and I had nothing to gain from it,” Haigh said.
She was granted a conditional discharge six months before becoming an MP at the 2015 general election.
Early on Friday, the morning after details of the conviction were released, Hague sent a resignation letter to the prime minister, saying she did not want to be a distraction.
The BBC has learned from Whitehall sources that she told Sir Keir of her beliefs when he selected her to join the shadow cabinet in 2020.
She did not tell the government’s etiquette and ethics team about the incident when she became a cabinet member after Labor won the July election.
The BBC understands she believed it would be enough to reveal to Sir Keir that she had been convicted while Labor was in opposition.
A Downing Street spokesman refused to reveal Sir Keir’s knowledge of the conviction, saying only that he had accepted her resignation after “further information” emerged.
