Chinny Rub of the week ... Louise Haig

I cannot believe (well, I can) the number of people willing to defend Louise Haigh who has just resigned as Secretary of State for Transport after it emerged that she stole a mobile phone, was convicted for it and received an unconditional discharge.  Oh well, this is the party part of which still listens to Alastair "I'm not a war criminal" Campbell....

Here's the facts... 

Ms Haigh claimed she was mugged and lost the phone.  She reported it stolen to her employer and the police.  She then "found" the phone and turned it on again so the Police knew exactly where it was from its IMEI number which was being uploaded to phone masts as soon as the network detected it.

Ms Haig claims that this was an accident... but even if she had found the lost phone why would she turn it on?  After all, the SIM would have been disabled when it was reported stolen.  

To actually use it she'd have to put a new SIM in.  Here's a picture of Ms Haigh's story...

Louise Haig's Story

Now at this point someone else might be able to say "Well, I didn't understand police procedure...".  Unfortunately this sounds a bit hollow as Ms Haigh had previously been a Special Constable from 2009 to 2011 in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary.  Did she learn nothing in that position?  Or did she think her mates would cover up for her?

Ms Haigh's employer Aviva reportedly was not happy but opinion is divided as to whether they actually sacked her (different news outlets carry different versions of the story).  Some say she resigned and others ... Well, this is all very odd because the incident happened in 2014.  And Ms Haigh was at the time standing for Parliament.  So whilst it may be a spent conviction now it wasn't at the time Haigh was selected for Shefield Heeley in May 2014.  Did she declare her conviction to the Selection Committee or the Electorate in 2015?  

She must be particularly jammy to have managed to go down the Magistrate's Court, get convicted and manage for this not to be noticed by any ladies and gentlemen of the press at the time.  

I'm not saying no one with a minor conviction should ever stand for Parliament but in the interests of transparency perhaps they should have to declare their convictions?  After all, it can't hurt.  Donald Trump has 34 felony convictions and he's President of the United States.  It's no bar to a career these days.

It would be possible to feel some sympathy for Ms Haigh if she admitted wrongdoing but she's still fronting it out, claiming that she only stayed silent in the police interview and pled guilty because her solicitor advised her to.  Perhaps he did so ...because she was clearly guilty?

Chinny rub.