Former British Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has accused former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his team of orchestrating a hostile press campaign to undermine her reputation following her cabinet departure, according to reports from the BBC.
Ms. Haigh, the MP for Sheffield Heeley, revealed details surrounding her late 2024 resignation, which followed a 2013 conviction regarding an incorrectly reported stolen work phone.
She stated that Downing Street officials isolation tactics and media leaks occurred despite her disclosing the legal matter to Starmer years prior, as reported by the BBC's Political Thinking podcast and the Crossed Wires festival.
The former cabinet minister criticized the inner circle operation for systematic hostility directed at top female officials, including Angela Rayner and Sue Gray.
"Cabal of men," stated Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
Ms. Haigh detailed that Starmer and chief strategist Morgan McSweeney demanded her resignation over vague claims of new disclosures.
"Additional information," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
She explained that the subsequent weeks involved relentless, aggressive media briefings from within the government operation.
"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," stated Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
Ms. Haigh stated that Starmer avoided direct contact during the process and has not spoken with her since.
"I had to really push even for a conversation with Keir, he didn't want to have that conversation, and both Morgan and he kept saying, 'well, additional information has emerged', but at no point would any of them tell me what that additional information was," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
She noted that while she would have voluntarily stepped down to avoid negative headlines, the hostile briefings made the exit unnecessarily painful.
"And afterwards they repeated that.
And it was painful because they could have said, 'Look, these headlines are awful, and it's not going to be nice for you to ride them out'," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
Ms. Haigh described the personal impact of the handling of her departure.
"And it wasn't.
And to be honest, I would have agreed, and I would have gone on that basis because I didn't particularly want to ride them out.
It was embarrassing, and it wasn't pleasant to go through," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
She reiterated that the administration targeted her standing deliberately.
"But 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," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
Ms. Haigh contrasted this experience with standard professional management practices.
"I've had to sack people in my political career, and you don't have to do it in a way that it's frankly so hurtful," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
She challenged denials regarding institutional problems within the former leadership team.
"You know, the idea that there wasn't a cabal of men that were deliberately mistreating women around the Government is just fanciful," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
Ms. Haigh is now backing presumptive successor Andy Burnham, noting that his team is actively modeling a shift away from negative internal politics.
"It's going to take leadership not just from Andy but across the whole political and staff team, and we've really tried to model that already," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
She highlighted Burnham's recent campaign approach as evidence of a cultural change.
"You know, Andy was really clear in the by-election that he wasn't going to do traditional point scoring, that there wasn't going to be a negative campaign, even against the Reform candidate, and we've carried that over already," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
Ms. Haigh emphasized the current emphasis on internal cohesion and professional conduct.
"You know, there's been no negative briefing against any of our colleagues, which shouldn't be something to boast about, but is actually very, very different from, unfortunately, the culture that we have seen," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
The focus has shifted toward building a team aligned with these revised operational standards.
"We're really trying to model that, really trying to make sure we only recruit people who are absolutely committed to that culture," said Louise Haigh, Member of Parliament.
