Sir Keir Starmer has dodged questions about his former Transport Secretary’s mobile phone fraud case, which forced her to resign.
The Prime Minister on Wednesday said Louise Haigh quit her frontbench role after “further information” came to light about the incident, but refused to say what that information was.
During PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked Sir Keir “what was he thinking” when he appointed "a fraudster" to be his transport secretary.
It was revealed last week that Ms Haigh was convicted in a fraud case in 2014 after reporting her phone stolen when it had not been.
She had said she was mugged while on a night out in London the previous year and claimed her work phone was stolen.
However, it was reported that police officers believed a photo she submitted of the handset was taken after the alleged theft when they checked the picture’s metadata.
Ms Haigh has said she made a "genuine mistake" by claiming it had been stolen and did not benefit.
Sir Keir swerved questions on the case in the Commons. He told MPs that Ms Haigh resigned "when further information came forward".
He then changed the subject, and attacked the Conservatives over the record levels of immigration under the last government. .
Ms Badenoch pressed the PM on the former minister’s resignation and asked him to elaborate on what new information he had seen.
Sir Keir responded by saying he would not disclose “private” conversations.
"Further information came to light," he repeated.
He also reference former Conservative Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, who both received fines for breaching Covid restrictions.
“He never answers any questions", Ms Badenoch hit back.
She added: "The country needs conviction politicians, not politicians with convictions.”
