Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, ignited a political storm by labeling P&O as rogue operators after the company dismissed 800 British seafarers. This incident revived scrutiny over her past legal troubles, including a fraud conviction for a 2013 incident involving a stolen phone.
It was back in October when Transport Secretary Louise Haigh first knew trouble was heading down the tracks. A few days earlier, the former special constable with hair dyed a deep red had ignited a political storm by branding Saudi-owned ferry company P&O 'rogue operators', as she announced new legislation to ban the practice of firing workers and rehiring at lower rates of pay, following the firm's sacking of 800 British seafarers.
She claims she later discovered the phone in a drawer, turned it on, and forgot about it. But in a theatrical – and politically fateful – twist, the sudden reactivation of the supposedly stolen phone was noted by an eagle-eyed Metropolitan police officer, who hauled Haigh in for questioning. In the days following the P&O debacle, Louise Haigh, above, became aware that someone was briefing the media about her exit from Aviva
While admitting to the initial offence relating to the stolen phone, she crucially failed to inform him that she had been investigated by Aviva for the 'loss' of other mobile phones while working for the company. 'There were gaps in her picture,' a Labour source told me cryptically. But if the Prime Minister hoped Haigh's swift departure marked an end to the drama, those hopes were swiftly dashed. No sooner had she cleared her desk than her allies were briefing that she had been cruelly defenestrated by McSweeney, who had used the crisis to dump a troublesome Left-winger from the Cabinet.
But at the time they were unable to substantiate it. This led to speculation it had deliberately been briefed from within Labour to undermine Haigh. Yet it’s inconceivable a seasoned political operator like McSweeney, or indeed any other member of Starmer’s core team, would risk such a treacherous destabilisation of their own political operation in the midst of an election.
Louise Haigh P&O Transport Secretary Political Backlash Fraud Conviction Seafarer Layoffs
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