Heidi Alexander has been appointed the brand new transport secretary after Louise Haigh stepped down over a prison conviction.
The Swindon South MP had been serving as a justice minister till her promotion right this moment, and labored as Sadiq Khan’s deputy transport mayor between 2018 and 2021.
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In a letter to the prime minister, she described the incident as a “mistake” however stated that “whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government”.
Ms Haigh claims she was “mugged on a night out” and believed her telephone had been stolen, however found “some time later” this was not the case.
She known as the incident a “genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain”.
The Tories have stated it raises questions on what precisely Sir Keir Starmer knew when he gave her a authorities place.
The prime minister’s official spokesman refused to say whether or not he was conscious of the conviction when appointing her to cupboard, however that the resignation got here after new data emerged.
Ms Haigh urged Sir Keir had some prior information of the occasion, saying in her resignation letter: “As you know, in 2013 I was mugged in London. As a 24-year-old woman, the experience was terrifying. In the immediate aftermath, I reported the incident to the police.
“I gave the police an inventory of my possessions that I believed had been stolen, together with my work telephone.
“Some time later, I discovered that the handset in question was still in my house.
“I ought to have instantly knowledgeable my employer and never doing so immediately was a mistake.”
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Louise Haigh talking on bus service funding
In response, the prime minister thanked Ms Haigh for “all you have done to deliver this government’s ambitious transport agenda” and stated: “I know you still have a huge contribution to make in the future.”
The incident comes lower than 5 months after Labour’s landslide election victory.
Through the marketing campaign, Sir Keir vowed to “clean up politics” and beforehand stated lawmakers should not be lawbreakers – in reference to the Boris Johnson partygate scandal.
Ms Alexander has had a protracted profession in politics, beginning off as a councillor earlier than serving because the MP for Lewisham East between 2010-2018.
She served because the shadow well being secretary below Jeremy Corbyn between 2015-2016, through the junior medical doctors’ contract strikes.
Ms Alexander give up the place in protest at what she known as his “dysfunctional cabinet”, and left parliament in 2018 to take up the transport job in London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s workforce.
She was elected to signify Swindon South on the July normal election, and was rapidly provided a place as a minister within the justice division.
