Former transport secretary Louise Haigh has accused Keir Starmer's allies of briefing "consistently and viciously" against her after she resigned from the cabinet in 2024. Speaking to the BBC's Nick Robinson on the Political Thinking podcast at the Crossed Wires festival in Sheffield, Haigh said she was a victim of a "cabal of men mistreating women" that also targeted cabinet colleagues Lisa Nandy, Bridget Phillipson, and Angela Rayner, as well as Starmer's former chief of staff Sue Gray.
Details of the sacking
Haigh was sacked after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to fraudulently reporting a lost mobile phone as stolen in 2013. She maintains she had informed Starmer about the incident several years before being dismissed. Haigh said: "Both Morgan [McSweeney] and [Starmer] kept saying 'well, additional information has emerged', but at no point would any of them tell me what that additional information was." She added: "To pretend that I hadn't told him and to brief so consistently and so viciously for quite a number of weeks after that was a deliberate attempt to knock my character down."
Culture of sexism
Haigh criticised the "boys' club" culture in No 10 under Starmer and his former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. She said: "I certainly would take Bridget and Lisa's word for it. I mean, they have both been, as have I, obviously, victims of incredibly sexist and unpleasant briefing in the press. Angela has. The way Sue Gray was treated was absolutely disgraceful." She added: "The idea that there wasn't a cabal of men that were deliberately mistreating women around the government is just fanciful." Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
Haigh's role in Burnham's campaign
Haigh helped mastermind Andy Burnham's likely ascent to power, with the former Greater Manchester mayor expected to be confirmed as prime minister in days. As a backbencher, the Sheffield Heeley MP organised the welfare rebellion that damaged Starmer's authority, before persuading many colleagues to back Burnham and running his campaign for the Makerfield byelection. Haigh is tipped for a cabinet job in Burnham's government but told Robinson it would not be as chancellor. She accepted the government would not pursue her idea of splitting up the Treasury in this parliament, saying "it would just drag everything down and be a huge distraction." She argued for a more powerful economic unit within No 10, stating: "There needs to be a proper beefed up economic unit in Number 10 that both the prime minister and the chancellor have access to, and that can give the prime minister a full suite of advice when they're making these huge decisions that affect the country."
