Sir Keir Starmer has refused to reveal the “further information” he was told about Louise Haigh’s phone “theft” conviction which led to her stepping down as transport secretary.
The prime minister was asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch what new information “came to light” about Ms Haigh’s conviction, which is now “spent”, for reporting a phone stolen to police when it was not in 2014.
Sky News revealed last week she admitted to pleading guilty to misleading the police, said it was a “genuine mistake” and had disclosed the incident when she was appointed to the shadow cabinet.
However, she stepped down as transport secretary on Friday after “new information” emerged, Downing Street said.
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Answering Ms Badenoch’s question at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Sir Keir said: “I’m not going to disclose private conversations. Further information came to light. The transport secretary resigns.”
The Tory leader accused Sir Keir of having “knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster to be a transport secretary” and asked: “What was he thinking?”
He said Ms Haigh “was right, when further information came forward, to resign”.
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But Ms Badenoch accused him of never answering questions and allowing someone convicted of fraud to award pay rises to public sector workers.
“And it looks like he didn’t ask his transport secretary any questions either,” she told the Commons.
“The truth is, he appointed a person convicted of fraud to the cabinet.
“The first thing she did was bung hundreds of millions of pounds in pay rises to her trade union friends. Wasn’t this a fraud on the British people?”
Ms Badenoch was referring to the 15% pay rise Labour gave train drivers shortly after coming to power in July.
They also gave above-inflation pay rises to several other public sector workers, including teachers, most NHS workers and members of the armed forces.
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Ms Haigh has declined to say officially if the prime minister knew about the conviction when he appointed his cabinet in July.
A source told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that the story that emerged on Thursday was “inconsistent” with what Sir Keir had been told when Ms Haigh was appointed to his shadow cabinet.
Ms Haigh said the incident arose after she was “mugged while on a night out” in 2013.
She said she reported the incident to the police and gave officers a list of items she believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone.
However, she told Sky News she discovered “some time later” that “the mobile in question had not been taken”.
In the interim, she was issued with another work phone. When she turned on the original work device, it “triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning”, she said.
“My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice,” she added.
“Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty – despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain.
“The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome (a discharge) available.”