Heidi Alexander has been appointed Transport Secretary, after the resignation of Louise Haigh over a decade-old conviction for wrongly telling police a work phone had been stolen.
The Swindon South MP was previously an MP for Lewisham and deputy Mayor of London for transport, serving as deputy chair of Transport for London too. But she was only re-elected to Parliament in July, making the promotion a rapid rise to the heart of government.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, said: “We congratulate Heidi Alexander on her new role as Secretary of State for Transport and look forward to working with her and continuing the good work of bringing Britain’s railways back into public ownership and investing in our transport infrastructure to help grow the UK economy.”
Figures from across Labour paid tribute to Haigh following her resignation.
She said in her resignation statement on Friday morning she took “great pride” in Labour’s achievements so far and being the youngest ever women in cabinet, but “whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering on the work of this government”.
Fast rise of deputy chair of Transport for London who wasn’t even an MP earlier this year
Born in Swindon, Alexander’s political career began as a councillor in south-east London, where she then became MP for Lewisham East from 2010 to 2018.
She served as an opposition whip under Ed Miliband’s leadership, and then a Shadow Health Secretary from 2015 to 2016. But she resigned in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership after the EU referendum.
She also stepped down from Parliament when Sadiq Khan asked her to become his deputy.
“As someone who went into politics to effect change, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she says on her website.
“I am tremendously proud of the work I did to help bring the new Elizabeth Line into service and to keep London’s public transport network running during COVID. With the help of a brilliant team of people, we succeeded despite a cynical Conservative Government playing party politics.”
She was then elected to represent her hometown in July this year.
Days after the election, she was one of a small number new MPs appointed immediately to the ministerial ranks.
She had been in the Ministry of Justice as a minister of state, responsible for areas including criminal courts, civil justice, legal aid, tribunals policy, miscarriages of justice, and legal aid.
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