The transport secretary has a conviction for fraud by misrepresentation after wrongly reporting her work mobile phone stolen in 2013, it has emerged.
Louise Haigh was convicted by Camberwell Green magistrates and given a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to an offence in connection with misleading the police.
The incident happened when Haigh was in her 20s and was mugged on a night out while working for the insurer Aviva. She gave police a list of items she thought were missing from her handbag, but wrongly included her work phone which at the time she thought had been stolen.
Haigh was issued with a new phone but when she subsequently found her old work phone and turned it on, the police called her in for questioning.
Sky News reported two sources alleging that Haigh had made the report in order to gain a newer handset from her employer. A source close to the transport secretary said that was “absolute nonsense” and it was an honest mistake.
Haigh disclosed the conviction to Starmer when she was first appointed to his shadow cabinet and sources said he was supportive of her. As the conviction has now been spent it is no longer on her record.
In a statement, Haigh – who was a special constable in the Metropolitan police between 2009 and 2011 – said: “In 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.
“I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.
“Some time later I discovered that the mobile in question had not been taken. 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 during that interview and I regret following that advice.
“The police referred the matter to the [Crown Prosecution Service] and I appeared before magistrates. 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.”
The Conservative party chair, Nigel Huddleston, told Sky News the revelations were “extremely concerning”.
He added: “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.”
