Starmer distances government from Transport Secretary’s expensive P&O ‘rogue operator’ claim

Keir Starmer admitted to ‘bumps and side winds’ in his first 100 days as prime minister

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has now been in post for 100 days (PA Wire)

Keir Starmer has risked deepening a rift in his own government after he used an interview with the BBC to criticise his transport secretary Louise Haigh.

The prime minister appeared on the BBC News Newscast podcast with Adam Fleming and Chris Mason, where he was pressed on Ms Haigh’s comments to ITV earlier this week where she suggested a boycott of P&O ferries.

The transport secretary had been discussing widespread anger with the ferry company over its decision to fire and rehire 800 employees to save money.

The fallout saw P&O’s parent company DP World cancel a £1 billion Thames Gateway investment in protest ahead of the government’s major investors summit on Monday. It is understood the firm particularly objected to Ms Haigh calling them a “cowboy operator”.

Grilled on what he thought of the minister’s comments, the prime minister slapped her down publicly.

P&O’s parent company DP World cancelled a £1 billion Thames Gateway investment (PA Archive)

Addressing her attack on DP World, he said: “Well, look, that's not the view of the government.”

But he quickly added: “And that was an issue that well, you know, the issue that cropped up a number of years ago now that I think across parliament was a cause for real concern. And I think one of things we've done is to change that. So they can't forget that that matters.

“But what matters to me is keeping our focus on that inward investment because it's the, you know, it's the jobs of the future that matter and jobs that are well-paid, that are secure, that are skilled and in different parts of the country.”

However, the comments come after claims of a briefing against Ms Haigh in a bid to save the Downing Street operation itself from criticism and shield deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

The original complaint with DP World had come in a press release on workers’ rights detailing the P&O incident which was cleared by Downing Street and included inflammatory quotes from Ms Rayner and Ms Haigh.

An ally of Ms Haigh’s branded the attacks on her as “a complete disgrace”, suggesting after a difficult few weeks the prime minister’s inner circle “is running out of friends”.

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has been blamed for a loss of £1bn of investment (PA Wire)

In his interview, Sir Keir claimed he had achieved all he had hoped in his first 100 days as prime minister but admitted that “along the way, there were bumps and side winds, which I'd prefer we hadn't bumped into and been pushed by”.

Asked what he meant, the prime minister said: “Stuff on donations, staffing issues, that sort of thing.”

He was referring to sacking his chief of staff Sue Gray last weekend and replacing her with election coordinator Morgan McSweeney as well as being dogged by questions over £107,000 worth of free gifts including Taylor Swift tickets, football tickets, expensive glasses and clothes he had received.

However, he insisted he is focused on getting investment into the country as he tries to create economic growth.

“The investment is absolutely crucial and we're not talking enough about it, in my view, because this is investment that can be measured in jobs in places across the United Kingdom, good, secure jobs for the future,” he said.

And despite the DP World cancellation of its £1 billion project, he insisted Monday’s summit will be a success.

“Don't underestimate the significance that so many are coming. There are so many top-level investors coming because they want to be part of the conversation we're going to have on Monday. So it's a very significant event.

“I think what will convince them is that we have listened to what they've told us about economic stability. So I've had lots of discussions with investors over the last two or three years and asked the question, you have the money to invest because I can see you're investing elsewhere in the world.

“Why are you not investing in the UK? And the answer? There were various versions of the answer that came back, but it boiled down to a lack of confidence in the last government because it was chopping and changing.”

DP World previously declined to comment.