Sir Keir Starmer has ignored calls to provide further details on why Louise Haigh resigned as transport secretary over a fraud offence before she became an MP.
The Prime Minister declined to elaborate on what “further information came to light”, despite being repeatedly pressed by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch to explain why he “knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster” to his Cabinet.
Mrs Badenoch joked the country needs “conviction politicians, not politicians with convictions”.
Sir Keir highlighted the actions of previous Tory leaders.
Ms Haigh resigned last week after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to a criminal offence related to incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.
It is understood the incident was disclosed to Sir Keir when she joined the shadow cabinet.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said Ms Haigh’s decision to resign was a “marked contrast” from the behaviour of the Tories over the last 14 years.
Mrs Badenoch told the session: “The Prime Minister talks about immigration, I think it’s probably a good time to remind him that he was the one writing letters asking us not to deport foreign criminals, and he and his party voted against every single measure that we put in place to try and limit immigration.
“But the question today is what has been on the lips of all Labour MPs, including, I believe, the Health Secretary (Wes Streeting) yesterday – the Prime Minister knowingly appointed a convicted fraudster to be his transport secretary. What was he thinking?”
Sir Keir replied: “The previous transport secretary was right, when further information came forward, to resign – what a marked contrast from behaviour in the last 14 years.
“And she talks about immigration, record levels of immigration under the previous government, nearly a million, and she was the cheerleader, she was the one urging on the removal of the caps for work visas, she was thanking the previous home secretary for the work that was done.
“She championed it. She advocated it. Record numbers of immigration.”
But Mrs Badenoch accused Sir Keir of “obfuscating”, adding: “But I’m going to keep him on the topic. He owes the House an explanation, he said that the former transport secretary was only asked to resign after further information came to light. What was that further information?”
The Prime Minister replied: “I’m not going to disclose private information. Further information came to light, the (transport) secretary resigned, as I say, what a marked contrast.
“Whilst she’s obsessing with the Westminster issues, we’re getting on with fixing the mess, fixing foundations, that £22 billion black hole, our prisons bursting.
“As we found out last week, nearly a million net migration numbers, because of the Tory open borders policy.”
Mrs Badenoch said: “He never answers any questions and it looks like he didn’t ask his transport secretary any questions either.
“The truth is he appointed a person convicted of fraud to the Cabinet. The first thing she did was bung hundreds of millions of pounds in pay rises to her trade union friends.
“Wasn’t this a fraud on the British people?”
Sir Keir replied: “No, and she says she’s not talking about immigration – I’m not surprised. I’d advise her and all of them not to talk about the economy or immigration for another five years.”
Mrs Badenoch added: “He can try and change the topic as much as he likes but the public are watching. He owes them an explanation.
“The country needs conviction politicians, not politicians with convictions.”
Sir Keir later said: “I gently remind her that two of her predecessors had convictions for breaking the Covid rules.”
Boris Johnson became the first prime minister to receive a criminal penalty while in office, over partygate, when he, his wife, and the then-chancellor – and later prime minister – Rishi Sunak received £50 fixed-penalty notices from Scotland Yard for attending the bash.
Fixed penalty notices are considered a criminal sanction but not a criminal conviction.
The two went on to clash over the economy as Mrs Badenoch highlighted that Labour made a manifesto commitment to make “Britain the fastest-growing economy in the G7”, asking: “Does he stand by his own pledge?”
Sir Keir said the assessment in the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report “puts us on target to be the highest-growing major economy in Europe in the next two years”.
Sir Keir later joked that Mrs Badenoch’s rivals are relaunching their leadership bids as he accused the Conservatives of displaying their “madness” by seeking a return to power.
After the Commons exchanges a spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said: “The Government is seeking to sweep this under the carpet and they need to come clean.
“This goes to a total matter of judgment, transparency and honesty.”
The spokesman pointed out that the fixed-penalty notices issued over partygate were not criminal convictions.
But a Labour source said: “If the Conservatives want to have a row about the extent of their criminality while in office, that’s fine by us.
“The fact is that two of the Leader of the Opposition’s predecessors were found guilty of breaking the law, partying in No 10 while telling everyone else to follow the rules.”
