Louise Haigh pleaded guilty to lying that her work mobile phone had been stolen in 2013, according to a court document seen by the Guardian which sheds new light on the controversy that triggered her departure from the cabinet.
The former transport secretary accepted the charge in a London magistrates court that she had dishonestly reported to her employer that her BlackBerry had been stolen, prompting her conviction for fraud and a £100 fine.
The conviction document sets out for the first time the exact charge to which Haigh pleaded guilty and her fine, as well as clarifying that there was only one telephone involved.
The revelation that she had been convicted of fraud prompted Downing Street to advise her to resign from her cabinet role, making her the first high-level casualty of the Keir Starmer government.
Haigh says she lost the mobile phone in question after being mugged on a night out and reported it as stolen to the police and her employer, the insurance group Aviva.
She was issued with a replacement iPhone, but says she then found her BlackBerry in a drawer at a later date. She failed to inform the police or Aviva that the original phone had been found, prompting a police investigation.
Her conviction sheet sets out for the first time however that she admitted to having lied about the theft in the first place in order to get a newer phone, and that the investigation and replacement phone cost Aviva £1,249. She was discharged for 12 months and paid £100 in fines, £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service and £15 as a victim surcharge.
The sheet says: “You dishonestly made a false representation, namely that your work-issued mobile phone had been stolen, intending to cause loss to Aviva insurance by falsely reporting the loss of your phone, causing them to issue you with a new iPhone 5 instead of a replacement BlackBerry phone as well as conducting an investigation into that loss.”
It clarifies that the police investigated the loss of only one mobile phone, despite reports that multiple phones were involved, although Aviva is understood to have launched an internal investigation into the loss of at least one other.
Haigh says she told Starmer about the incident when she was first promoted to the shadow cabinet in 2020 – a claim Downing Street does not contest. But when details of the conviction were first reported in November, she was advised to resign by Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
Haigh’s friends say she now regrets the guilty plea, saying it did not represent the actual circumstances under which the phone was lost. But they say they hope the court documents will help draw a line under the affair.
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One said: “These records demonstrate that Louise’s account – at the time and in response to press interest – is entirely honest and accurate.
“Louise is looking forward to continuing to serve the government from the backbenches and to making a contribution on the issues important to her constituents and to the country. She has a lot more to give.”
A spokesperson for Haigh declined to comment.
