A Cabinet Minister forced to stand down over breaking the law has launched a thinly-veiled attack on Sir Keir Starmer for treating Rachel Reeves differently.
Louise Haigh, who had to quit as Transport Secretary last year over a previous fraud conviction, contrasted her treatment with how the Chancellor had been let off with an apology by renting out her family home without a licence.
Appearing on the BBC1’s Have I Got News For You on Friday, Ms Haigh insisted Ms Reeves ‘had made a mistake’ but said the Prime Minister ‘was absolutely right’ to accept Ms Reeves’ apology as ‘she’s been exonerated’.
However, when asked by panelist Ian Hislop whether that meant people generally ‘who make mistakes should be exonerated’, she appeared to draw a sharp distinction between her fate and Sir Keir’s lenient approach to his Chancellor.
To laughter from the audience, Ms Haigh pointedly replied: ‘Well, the PM was equally magnanimous with me which is why I’m really delighted I’m still serving as Transport Secretary.’
She also re-opened a previous row with Number 10 by insisting that the PM had known about her conviction in 2014 for making a false report to police over an allegedly stolen mobile phone when he appointed her to the Shadow Cabinet in 2020.
Number 10 had insisted that the PM only accepted her resignation after ‘further information’ emerged.
But asked last night whether Sir Keir ‘was lying’, Ms Haigh replied: ‘Well, he never told me what the further information was.’
Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has launched a thinly-veiled attack on Sir Keir Starmer for treating Rachel Reeves differently
At the time, supporters of Ms Haigh claimed she was the victim of a ‘political hit job’ by Number 10 for pushing a left-wing agenda.
The Daily Mail revealed last week that Ms Reeves had broken the law by failing to obtain a licence for letting her family home in Dulwich, south London, after she moved into accommodation in Downing Street provided for the Chancellor and her family after the General Election.
However, the PM let Ms Reeves off for what he accepted was an ‘inadvertent failure’ to get the licence from her local Southwark council.
That was despite the Chancellor backtracking on her defence by first claiming she and husband Nicholas Joicey were unaware they needed the permit but then admitting their letting agent had informed Mr Joicey that a licence was needed.
The letting agency later attempted to shoulder blame for the ‘oversight’ by saying one of its property managers had promised to apply for the licence but left the firm before doing so.
Sir Keir’s lenient treatment of his Chancellor has already been questioned by allies of would-be Labour leader Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester.
According to the Daily Telegraph yesterday, a source close to Mainstream – a Labour group backed by Mr Burnham – compared Sir Keir’s reaction to Ms Reeves with how ex-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had had to quit for failing to pay the correct stamp duty on a new flat.
The source said: ‘There’s a reason Rayner was turfed out as soon as possible but support for Reeves is robust.
Louise Haigh, who had to quit as Transport Secretary last year over a previous fraud conviction, contrasted her treatment with how Reeves had been let off with an apology by renting out her family home without a licence. Pictured: Prime Minister Keir Starmer greets Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves after her speech on stage during day two of the Labour Party conference at ACC Liverpool on September 29, 2025 in Liverpool
‘It’s always one rule for their people and another for anyone who threatens to loose their grip on control.’
Last year, it emerged that Ms Haigh had admitted telling police in 2013 that she had lost her work mobile phone in a mugging but later found that it had not been taken.
She was given a conditional discharge by magistrates following the incident which happened before she became an MP.
Last night on HIGNFY, Ms Haigh was challenged by Mr Hislop to admit that her own behaviour ‘wasn’t a mistake – it was a conviction for fraud’.
She replied: ‘It was and it was… obviously humiliating, embarrassing.’
She added: ‘It was wrong. I made a mistake – I held my hands up.
‘I got my conditional discharge.’
But asked ‘did Keir know though’ about the conviction, Ms Haigh replied: ‘He did. I told him about when I was appointed.’
