Former Minister Calls Out 'Sexist' No.10 Briefings Against Women In Starmer's Cabinet

Louise Haigh, pictured when she was the Secretary of State for Transport last October.Louise Haigh has accused No.10 of targeting female members of the cabinet with hostile briefings in the media.Haigh served as Keir Starmer’s transport secretary until it was revealed last November that she had a historic fraud conviction. She subsequently became the first minister to leave the new Labour cabinet.The Sunday Times reported that education secretary Bridget Phillipson and culture secretary Lisa Nandy will lose their jobs in a June reshuffle.It comes as Starmer looks to win back voters Labour lost in the local elections to Reform UK.Haigh said she was “really fed up” of reading these “sexist” media briefings against her former female colleagues.Speaking to BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, she said: “I was really angry at the weekend to see the response to the electoral defeat that we had suffered at the hands of Reform to be that we should sack two female, northern, cabinet ministers, two of our best communicators with those voters we need to communicate with most.“I think that does reveal that there are people working in No.10 that are more interested in that kind of politics than they are about running the country.”Haigh said she mainly sees briefings against her former female colleagues, although she admitted net zero secretary Ed Miliband has been targeted by a few hostile briefings of his own.When asked by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire if these briefings were “sexist” or “misogynistic”, Haigh said: “All of the above.”The MP for Sheffield Heeley said this kind of briefing is not “motivational for cabinet colleagues who are working really hard to try and deliver for the people of this country”.“The kind of briefing that undermines them on a daily basis is not supporting the prime minister and it’s not supporting the Labour government,” she added.Since Haigh’s departure, three other ministers have left government: Tulip Siddiq, who resigned over a corruption investigation; Andrew Gwynne, who was sacked over a WhatsApp chat; and Anneliese Dodds, who quit over the cuts to the foreign aid budget.Sue Gray also resigned as the Downing Street chief of staff last October, just three months into the job after weeks of behind-the-scenes rows.She was replaced by Morgan McSweeney, who led Labour’s general election campaign.“What are you saying about that pattern of briefing then. Sexist? Misogynistic?”“All of the above…”Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh tells @vicderbyshire that “female northern MPs” are the target of hostile media briefings from “people working in Number 10”#Newsnightpic.twitter.com/ku3TDVpkEh— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) May 6, 2025Related...Labour-Supporting Newspaper Turns On Keir Starmer As Backlash Against Flagship Policy GrowsExclusive: Labour Minister Slaps Down Another Tory MP After Bizarre Gender Neutral Toilet QuestionHow Keir Starmer Will Take A Leaf Out Of Margaret Thatcher's Book After Labour Local Election Losses

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