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...and will they follow her ethos?
Sounds like a genuine mistake at a time of stress, compounded by bad advice. Storm in a teacup, no matter what bullshine the Tories try to whip up. Johnston remained prime minister with an unspent conviction.
Yeah it was very small beer compared to the stuff various Tories have brass-necked their way through.
She also seemed to have her head screwed on and was taking cycling seriously. Fingers crossed her replacement picks up where she left off.
I suspect that a smart cookie like her won't be on the back benches for that long though.
That's a real shock, she was doing a very good job. I met her a few weeks ago at a Transport event, she came across really well. Loads of enthusiasm, knew her brief, engaged well with everyone.
Sounds like someone has done some serious digging to unearth that one and use it against her; the companies that stand to lose out from a people-first transport policy that doesn't focus entirely on new roads and more cars. 🙁
Maybe I'm just used to the Tory days where far worse crimes and convictions were just met with denial and obfuscation with the Minister in question clinging on to their position.
Just hope whoever comes in continues her initial work.
Oh, headline updated as I was riding to the train. That's a shame, but no being the story for a few weeks I suppose.
Sounds like someone has done some serious digging to unearth that one and use it against her; the companies that stand to lose out from a people-first transport policy that doesn’t focus entirely on new roads and more cars. ?
Glad it’s not just me that thought this. If the successor doesn’t follow through with the promised changes to active travel we’ll know. Cycling UK had done a lot of work showing her what cycling could do 🙁
Was a daft thing to do, but Starmer still thought she was the best person for the role and I've not heard anyone question that.
And fair play for quitting and not clinging on.
Pretty sure there's loads of stupid mistakes I've made over the years that could be found if anyone wanted to stop me doing something they disapproved of. Expecting perfection will seriously restrict the talent pool.
Kier knew about it nearly 5 years ago.
Labour are no better than/ worse than any other political party
I know in my industry (NHS) you won’t be employed if you have had a previous criminal conviction
So apparently the story is she was mugged and thought a phone had been taken(handbag snatch ?) which later turned up. Went to court, judge took it as a genuine oversight and was given a discharge. So no real crime, and compared to the fraudulent activities of the Tories during the pandemic, utter nonsense.
Clearly just a tory hit job, which in reality achieves nothing.
No reason to resign imo. They should have just left her in the post and stuck their fingers up at the Tories. They're the real criminals, stealing from the country for so long.
I know in my industry (NHS) you won’t be employed if you have had a previous criminal conviction
It was a spent conviction, and even then it was a discharge. The magistrate basically saying "why TF is this in the public interest to prosecute?"
In context, it's less serious than Sunak's seatbelt offence.
There's something very fishy about this whole thing - she had the potential to be the best Transport Sec in decades. She's a genuine loss, I'm actually quite upset about it.
A spent minor conviction that was fully disclosed to her boss. I really don't see this as worthy of a resignation.
Labour are no better than/ worse than any other political party
Have you seen the actual detail?
I know in my industry (NHS) you won’t be employed if you have had a previous criminal conviction
Untrue, look at the actual 'crime' she committed.
"A discharge is a type of conviction where a court finds the person guilty but does not give them a sentence because the offence is considered very minor."
Don't get this at all? Everyone knew? Eh?
Perhaps there's something bigger that's yet to come out?
the story is she was mugged and thought a phone had been taken(handbag snatch ?) which later turned up. Went to court, judge took it as a genuine oversight and was given a discharge.
I think there was a question mark over whether there was actually a mugging:
However, three separate sources claimed she made the false report to benefit personally, with two of the sources alleging she wanted a more modern work handset that was being rolled out to her colleagues at the time.
The now cabinet minister had been working as a public policy manager at Aviva, but two sources said she lost her job at the insurance firm because of the incident.
Bloody stupid thing to do just to get a better work phone, but as others have said - it's a spent conviction and was known about by the Labour hierarchy.
A spent minor conviction that was fully disclosed to her boss.
And not just any old boss, an ex-DPP! The Tories and their agitators should have been told to **** off,
Resignation is the right thing to do of course, but she won't get 'points' for it. It's a shame that it's her, she seemed to be keen to make proper changes. I hope her successor takes up what she's built on.
Resignation is the right thing to do of course, but she won’t get ‘points’ for it.
Starmer should've grown a pair and refused to accept it.
The Tory party remains pretty well funded and one of the things they spend that money on is paying people to painstakingly trawl though the social media history and past legal or personal issues of every MP, SPAD and Councillor, anything that can potentially embarrass them.
As a cabinet minister Ms Haigh would have been given extra special treatment on this front.
Anything they find can then be fed to their loyal press at the Mail, Sun, Express, Times and Telegraph and mountains can then be made out of even the tiniest molehills.
We complain that politicians on the progressive side of things tend to come across as 'bland' and 'boring' but when this is what they're up against...
On the flip side, the populist right instinctively understand that it's all really about raw power rather than principles so when Boris and his cronies misbehaved they were prepared to look the other way and let's not even get started on Trump.
It's not exactly a level playing field.
Starmer should’ve grown a pair and refused to accept it.
I'd like to understand the thinking, as I expect she took advice from the party before resigning.
My suspicion is that it was deemed not to be a hill to die on, politically.
Brilliant double standards here. Cos she's a lefty, it's spent, only minor, had informed da management, doesn't count, is a shame, she should be forgiven, it's a witch hunt etc. Get over yourselves.
Well if she's guilty - and she admitted it and was found guilty therefore THERE IS NO DOUBT OF HER GUILT, she's demonstrated at least poor judgement and at worst a propensity to lie and defraud (the crime she was found guilty of).
It doesn't matter if she was given a Conditional Discharge, it doesn't matter if Stamer knew, it doesn't matter if 'Discharge is the lowest possible outcome', I'd really rather my Ministers of State be truthful, reliable, non fraudulent individuals whatever their political colours.
I don't care about the political persuasion of this. We've just had a General Election and are in the honeymoon period of a sleeze free new broom. Oh, apart from free clothes, free glasses, free Taylor Swift and whatever else we've yet to find out about. It's no wonder the electorate are reluctant to engage. The political classes are indeed rotten to the core.
I'm 180 degrees on that @chakaping looks like weak leadership to me. She's done nothing wrong that hadn't already been dealt with.
@boblo using my mystical powers I can foresee a future filled with disappointment for you, on this topic
@thestabiliser I think you might be right. As certain as the sun rising tomoz and the answer to 'do bears sh1t in the woods...?' 🙂
I’m 180 degrees on that @chakaping looks like weak leadership to me. She’s done nothing wrong that hadn’t already been dealt with.
Personally I agree KS should have shown a bit of backbone on this and stood up for her.
But he and his team seem super-sensitive to anything sleaze-adjacent, hence my comment.
One possibility is they know there's something else about her that might come out.
One possibility is they know there’s something else about her that might come out.
Stamer has seen the future - through his free glasses... :E
So from boblo's point of view, there can be no redemption or rehabilitation for anyone who does something wrong, and any other talents that they have should be wasted and not used for the public good.
There's degrees of "wrong" obviously, but there's also cutting off our noses to spite our face.
Stamer has seen the future – through his free glasses… :E
The free glasses and clothes was very mild in terms of sleaze IMO.
The event tickets thing has been an unwritten "perk of the job" for politicians of all stripes for years, and I reckon a lot of Tories won't be too happy if KS gets too hairshirt-y about it.
But it's about the only thing they can really pin on him at the mo, as he's been particularly keen on attending sports and cultural events for free in recent years.
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offence that is undertaken by a person or an organisation that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain
You can play it down all ya like but they were supposed to be so much better and sadly, they're just the same.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose...
I know in my industry (NHS) you won’t be employed if you have had a previous criminal conviction
As others have pointed out, that's just not true.
Details of the resignation are not totally clear, but there is some suggestion that an aspect of the miniterial code has not been followed, so I think the descision from on high is that they're not spending the political energy defending her.
Of more surprise to me is that back in 2013 the police actually investigated a mobile phone theft!
It was Aviva, headquartered in Norwich. Not much else to investigate apart from... No, I'll leave the Norfolk stereotypes alone today 🙂
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one’s gain
Do give over. Unless there's something we don't know, I see no attempt to gain a benefit here and she was not in a position of authority. If she'd had a speeding ticket no-one would be making a fuss, yet that is a fine for breaking the law, a bigger punishment than the one she received.
@ransos You do know what fraud is, yeah?
Apparently, she wanted a phone update so pretended to lose hers, got a new one and then switched the old one on again... If true, also guilty of being incredibly dim...
More two faced; it's small beer, it doesn't matter, she didn't mean it, nobody got hurt, it was a mistake etc. Yeah, yeah, just like the last sleazebags. Oh no, they were the other party so their sleaze was much worse <sigh>
That's the RW media line certainly.
Rather than the actual more likely explanation that she took the phone out of her bag but in the trauma of being mugged forgot exactly what was and wasn't nicked.
Actually it's not much different to the occasional threads on here saying:
My bike got stolen, insurance paid out but then police recovered my bike, what now?
To which there are always a fair number of responses along the line of "whoopee, free bike, free money!"
@ransos You do know what fraud is? Apparently, she wanted a phone update so pretended to lose hers, got a new one and then switched the old one on again… If true, also guilty of being incredibly dim
The word "apparently" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Have you any evidence that your allegations are true? If not, best to stick to the facts, rather than smearing someone to suit your argument
More two faced it’s small beer, it doesn’t matter, she didn’t mean it, nobody got hurt, it was a mistake etc. Yeah, yeah, just like the last sleazebags. Oh no, they were the other party so their sleaze was much worse
It depends on whether you consider a spent and disclosed conviction which received no punishment, to be sleaze. I don't.
I assume you'll be calling for the heads of all MPs who've received a speeding ticket? They did break the law, after all.
That’s the RW media line certainly.
And their useful idiots on here.
And their useful idiots on here
No need for that. Please don't resort to personal insults just because someone doesn't agree with you. You have the right to be as myopic as you like, but it's not compulsory (yet).
I don't care what party she was an MP for, that's a non-story.
Conservative Party Chairman Nigel Huddleston told Sky News the revelations are "extremely concerning".
No, they're really not, especially not by Tory standards. F the hypocrisy.
Conservative Party Chairman Nigel Huddleston told Sky News the revelations are "extremely concerning".
Coming from a Tory MP, you're kidding... F the hypocrisy.
I don't care which party she was an MP for, sounds like a non-story to me.
Of more surprise to me is that back in 2013 the police actually investigated a mobile phone theft!
The Times is reporting “…that Aviva launched an investigation after Haigh said that company mobile phones had been stolen or had gone missing on repeated occasions.”.
If that is true, it might explain why the police took the investigation more seriously in the first place (and it might also explain the fairly rapid resignation, to avoid digging a bigger hole).
If there were multiple incidents, it’s particularly daft behaviour when you are working for Aviva, because patterns that like that are exactly the sort of thing insurers spend their time looking for as part of their anti-fraud processes!