Secretary admits misleading police after claiming phone was stolen

A Labour minister was under pressure on Thursday night after it emerged she has a fraud conviction for misleading the police.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s position was said to be ‘untenable’, with calls for Keir Starmer to come clean about why she was given such a leading role.

The outcry came after it emerged the former special constable and shadow police minister made a false report to officers that her mobile phone had been stolen in a mugging.

She pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation in 2014 after an internal investigation by her then-employer, insurance giant Aviva. 

It is understood she disclosed her conviction ‘in full’ to Sir Keir when she was appointed to his Shadow Cabinet in 2020.

Ms Haigh, 37, was a parliamentary candidate at the time of the incident but was working at Aviva as a public policy manager. It was reported she subsequently lost her job.

Ms Haigh said it was a ‘genuine mistake’ – but The Times claimed that the company launched an investigation after previous claims her phones had been stolen or gone missing ‘on repeated occasions’. 

There were also claims that she had said the phone was stolen because she wanted a more modern model, according to Sky News.

Ms Haigh appeared at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court in 2014, pleading guilty to making a false report.

In 2022, she called on Boris Johnson to resign as PM after police issued fines over ‘parties’ held at Downing Street during Covid lockdowns.

Shadow Tory minister Saqib Bhatti said last night that Ms Haigh’s position was ‘untenable’. 

He tweeted: ‘Astonishing “misleading the police” – surely her position is untenable now.’

Former Tory party chairman Richard Holden said her conviction raised questions about Sir Keir’s judgment.

‘This is very serious,’ he said. ‘(Almost) everyone screws up at some point in some way. But a premeditated crime of dishonesty is different.’

As Transport Secretary, Ms Haigh has a role in appointing members of the board overseeing the British Transport Police. 

Mr Holden added: ‘It was quite recent and you’re now running a police force in BTP and you now deny wrongdoing when everyone else says you were as guilty as sin and you pleaded guilty at the time. 

'But in the end it’s bigger than her – there is a real question as to why Sir Keir Starmer appointed her knowing all this.’

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Current Conservative chairman Nigel Huddleston added: ‘These are extremely concerning revelations about the person responsible for managing £30 billion of taxpayers’ money.

‘Keir Starmer has serious questions to answer regarding what he knew and when about the person he appointed as Transport Secretary admitting to having misled the police.’

Ms Haigh, the youngest member of the Cabinet, said last night she was ‘mugged while on a night out’ in 2013, and reported the theft of items – including her work phone – to the police.

The MP for Sheffield Heeley said she discovered ‘some time later’ that ‘the mobile in question had not been taken’, adding: ‘In the interim, I had been issued with another work phone. 

'The original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning.

'My solicitor advised me not to comment... and I regret following that advice. The police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before Southwark magistrates.’

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.’ 

Under electoral rules, people are disqualified from standing only if they have been sentenced to three months or more in jail.

This is not Ms Haigh’s first brush with controversy since becoming a Cabinet minister.

Last month, she accused P&O of being a ‘rogue operator’ and called for a boycott of its services. 

The comments caused the firm’s Dubai-based owner to review a planned £1 billion UK port investment, although it backtracked following an intervention by other ministers.

Louise Haigh stands out with her bright red hair – but her commitment to the socialist cause runs deep in her roots.

She was born in Sheffield into a staunch Labour family, with her grandfather and uncle both trade union officials. Having made her name as a shop steward for Unite, she went on to court controversy by showering the rail unions with cash to end their strikes.

Despite her Left-wing background, Ms Haigh was educated at Sheffield High School for Girls, making her one of only two members of Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet to be privately educated. 

The Transport Secretary, 37, started a degree in government and economics at the London School of Economics before transferring to Nottingham University to complete a BA in politics.

After two years she landed a job in Parliament co-ordinating an all-party parliamentary group on international corporate responsibility while also working for Unite.

Ms Haigh then worked for insurance company Aviva for three years before being elected as the MP for Sheffield Heeley in 2015 aged only 27.

She was one of the 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a leadership candidate in 2015 – although she has since said she regrets doing this and had been ‘naive’. She was quickly elevated to the Labour front bench by Mr Corbyn.

Haigh was named the hardest-working of the new intake of MPs in 2015, by the House of Commons Library and when Sir Keir became Leader of the Opposition in 2020, he made Ms Haigh his Northern Ireland spokeswoman before moving her to the transport brief in 2021.

Her first few months as Transport Secretary have been characterised by a string of controversies. 

While boasting about the Government’s new Employments Rights Bill, she urged the audience to join her in boycotting ‘rogue operator’ P&O Ferries, whose parent company responded by threatening to pull £1billion of investment in the UK.

She has also been accused of ‘emboldening’ militant union barons. In August Ms Haigh handed rail drivers in the Aslef union a 14.25 per cent hike over three years with no strings attached. Two days later the hard-Left union announced fresh strikes.

Since the election, she has received a £10,000 donation from Unite.

She has also had a colourful personal life. In 2019 it was reported that she had a fling with DIY SOS star Nick Knowles the previous year after meeting at the Police Bravery awards.