Only two years ago, smarting from her expulsion from Sir Keir Starmer’s government, it looked as if Louise Haigh’s political career was over. Now she’s so central to Andy Burnham’s administration she’s the most powerful woman in British politics.
“The whole story of Andy Burnham’s rise has been women either angry with Keir or furious at the boys’ club around him,” a Labour MP said. “Talk about ‘don’t get mad, get even.”
Sacked by Starmer, Haigh, 40, is now so powerful she helped to choose and interview the candidates for Cabinet positions and even wielded her influence over the pick for Chancellor of the Exchequer, usually the second most influential member of government.
Shorts
She and ally Anneliese Midgley, the new Chief Whip, who both have strong links to Labour’s union backers, persuaded Burnham that Ed Miliband’s net zero agenda was at risk of costing jobs. MPs had lobbied the pair to block Miliband, worried his environmental zeal could cost votes in Labour’s traditional heartlands, despite his popularity with the party’s grassroots.
