[Killer Whale]

If Haigh had admitted the charge at the time, this wouldn't have happened. We now face the prospect of a recall petition for Haigh to be expelled from the Commons.

You do realise that this is unmitigated bollocks, don't you?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Labour has a very poor record in vetting potential candidates. Remember Rochdale?

If Haigh had admitted the charge at the time, this wouldn't have happened. We now face the prospect of a recall petition for Haigh to be expelled from the Commons. That means not just one, but TWO potentially damaging by-elections (Mike Amesbury still hasn't resigned despite being charged for assault).

Make no mistake, this government is lurching from crisis to crisis, and no wonder people want them out now.

Where to start with this bollocks.

Labour has a robust procedure for vetting, I know, I've done it. Have you, Nev?
She revealed her conviction when selected and again when offered a post. She did not have to 'admit' anything. So that's just untrue.
She will not face a recall petition as her conviction is now spent (an important fact) and she did not face a custodial sentence.

Like I said before, why do we attract such rubbish trolls?

[NevTheSweeper]

Labour has a very poor record in vetting potential candidates. Remember Rochdale?

If Haigh had admitted the charge at the time, this wouldn't have happened. We now face the prospect of a recall petition for Haigh to be expelled from the Commons. That means not just one, but TWO potentially damaging by-elections (Mike Amesbury still hasn't resigned despite being charged for assault).

Make no mistake, this government is lurching from crisis to crisis, and no wonder people want them out now.

Where to start with this bollocks.

Labour has a robust procedure for vetting, I know, I've done it. Have you, Nev?
She revealed her conviction when selected and again when offered a post. She did not have to 'admit' anything. So that's just untrue.
She will not face a recall petition as her conviction is now spent (an important fact) and she did not face a custodial sentence.

Like I said before, why do we attract such rubbish trolls?

1. Yes, rejected FOUR TIMES as a paper candidate.
2. Maybe Haigh should be subject to a recall.
3. Stating that the government is in perpetual crisis is not b******s, just a FACT.

[Andy McDandy]

1. So what? "Come back later, you're not quite ready yet" isn't particularly damning.

2. OK, so it's gone from facing the prospect to maybe and should. Maybe Scarlett Johanssen should be begging me for sex. Ain't going to happen.

3. On this I agree - they have, thanks to voting patterns, a large but precarious majority. They have 5 years to deliver as much as possible. They have a very hostile media against them, who don't give a shit about honeymoon periods. They have some very bad actors stirring the shit to contend with.

But the crisis is not of their making. It's a combo of Tories, ReFucks, Trots, Cunts and Twats throwing everything they have at them.

[davidjay]

This is begining to feel more and more like every Labour government doesn't matter what they do people want them out.

Fixed.

[Youngian]

I have a drug conviction from 35 years ago and have been a law abiding citizen ever since but I'd never put myself up for public office under a Labour ticket as it would embarrass the party and it can survive without my genius. If I was a Tory or Reform that's a different matter as revealing the ancient offence would be tomorrow's fish and chip paper.
You have to be more bullet proof if you're in progressive politics and suck up that reality.

[mattomac]

Anyhow Heidi Alexander is her replacement.

That’s a decent appointment. I’m glad all this was done swiftly.

The Tory bleating about a “30m budget” and “tough questions for Starmer”
should look at their leader who should have faced criminal charges for hacking Harriet Harman’s computer.

Also Sky’s analysis on her resignation piece is ridiculously silly

[Crabcakes]

Perpetual crisis? Did you live through the Johnson and Truss administrations?

This is a non-Tory government getting business as usual treatment from the right-wing press, whose paymasters are particularly angry at present because of rich landowners being slightly taxed.

[Youngian]

Next week's Mail: 'What did Starmer know?'

[Abernathy]

Not my words, but I very much echo this ...

Louise Haigh was a woman in her mid twenties when she was mugged. That must have been a terrifying experience for her. When something like that happens it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to have a mental inventory of what may or may not have been stolen. Later , when she found the mobile phone she thought had been stolen, the first feeling was probably relief ; and the last thing on her mind was contacting the police to tell them she’d found her phone. No one would want to revisit the emotions concerning a mugging which had left them so traumatised.
The court discharged her ; accepting her view of feelings and events. She told the prime minister about the incident. Louise was establishing a reputation as a strong secretary of state for transport. Then the affair of the phone comes to light. Sky news and The Times literally made a “ mountain out of a molehill “ and now the Labour government have lost an excellent minister over something trivial.
The right wing media are repeating their destructive approach to this government, that they employed against the last labour government. Hopefully Louise Haigh can be returned to the government soon ; the country should not lose out because of the negativity of some in the media

[Malcolm Armsteen]

So she wasn't convicted, the case was discharged?

[Killer Whale]

Does it involve guilt?
Yes – it is passed when the court finds you guilty but does not pass a sentence, on the condition that you don’t reoffend within a specified time period. If a crime is committed within that period, you can be re-sentenced for the original offence. You may still have to pay compensation, prosecution costs or be disqualified from driving.

https://unlock.org.uk/advice/conditional-discharge/

[Tubby Isaacs]

Good thread here. I don't think Haigh's explanation adds up at all. It's, I'm afraid, more likely she was bang to rights.

Youthful error, spent conviction, that's fine. But that's not what she's said.

https://bsky.app/profile/legalclaret.bs ... zwgwsq3k2d

[Tubby Isaacs]

Not my words, but I very much echo this ...

Louise Haigh was a woman in her mid twenties when she was mugged. That must have been a terrifying experience for her. When something like that happens it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to have a mental inventory of what may or may not have been stolen. Later , when she found the mobile phone she thought had been stolen, the first feeling was probably relief ; and the last thing on her mind was contacting the police to tell them she’d found her phone. No one would want to revisit the emotions concerning a mugging which had left them so traumatised.
The court discharged her ; accepting her view of feelings and events. She told the prime minister about the incident. Louise was establishing a reputation as a strong secretary of state for transport. Then the affair of the phone comes to light. Sky news and The Times literally made a “ mountain out of a molehill “ and now the Labour government have lost an excellent minister over something trivial.
The right wing media are repeating their destructive approach to this government, that they employed against the last labour government. Hopefully Louise Haigh can be returned to the government soon ; the country should not lose out because of the negativity of some in the media

Why would you plead guilty to fraud if you just made a mistake? Why would a solicitor advise you to do it? I am very skeptical of her version of events.

I liked her too, but Heidi Alexander is actually better qualified.

[Killer Whale]

The mental image of Sky News and the Times 'literally' making a mountain out of a molehill is what is going to entertain me on a long drive tomorrow. I promise not to get too distracted.

[Bones McCoy]

So she wasn't convicted, the case was discharged?

And when the previous lot were putting on press conferences in the rose garden, "circling the wagons around the prittster" or lobbying to bat for the latest ministerial sex offender...

We are better now.
We shouldn't let this throw raw meat to every Fleet Street attack dog.

[davidjay]

@Tubby - "Plead guilty and get it over with" is a massive temptation to a worried, naive youngster. Like many things, the legal system works worst if you're inexperienced.

[Crabcakes]

Having read The Secret Barrister, I can 100% believe her side of things.

[Youngian]

Good thread here. I don't think Haigh's explanation adds up at all. It's, I'm afraid, more likely she was bang to rights.

Youthful error, spent conviction, that's fine. But that's not what she's said.

https://bsky.app/profile/legalclaret.bs ... zwgwsq3k2d

A retired copper on a phone in this morning was more sympathetic due to under qualified duty solicitors unnecessarily instructing clients to 'no comment' when they don't need to.
But as the thread infers making bogus insurance claims is a ubiquitous piece of low level tacky middle class fraud that allegedly isn't real stealing. They'll probably be some columnist next week telling us that sanctimonious puritan Starmer isn't like us.

[Andy McDandy]

And as I asked earlier, who hung onto this, and why release it now?

And isn't it odd that of all the cases of lost or stolen mobile phones reported, it's this one that someone keeps an eye on and follows it up?