Will Louise Haigh receive a golden goodbye?

Well, well, well. Before Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot got into government, Starmer’s army was quite happy to commit to to suspending – and, in some cases, revoking altogether – severance pay over ministerial code breaches. But it appears Sir Keir’s crowd is a little less enthusiastic about the prospect now it threatens to affect one of their own.

Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned on Friday after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence in 2014 – with No. 10 advising her to step away from the brief over a possible breach of the ministerial code. The former Transport Secretary did not declare her spent conviction for fraud to Starmer’s government when she became a cabinet minister, although the Guardian reports that multiple sources have insisted that Sir Keir himself was aware of the conviction as far back as 2020 when Haigh became Northern Ireland Secretary. Notably, the PM’s spokesperson last week refused to confirm whether Starmer knew about the whole matter at any stage.