UPDATE: Almost as soon as we had recorded the show, it was announced that Heidi Alexander, previously Minister for Courts and Social Justice, has been appointed as Secretary of State for Transport. She has also previously been Deputy Mayor of London for Transport from 2018 and departed her role in 2022 to prepare for a return to Parliament which she did at the 2024 General Election. She is the MP for Swindon South.
Heidi clearly brings experience - which is helpful - but I worry about there now being 2 TfL heavy hitters in charge of the national industry. TfL rail operations deliver quite good service to customers at the coal face, but they are anything but efficient in the way they structure the organisations and contracts behind the scenes. It will obviously also be difficult to escape arguments and impressions - valid or otherwise - of London and 'TfL' bias.
Good that she's got prior experience in Transport at a local government level, worrying that we have a Londoner who might not push as hard against entrenched Whitehall dogma for improvements outside the capital.
It's a real shame - she was a breath of fresh air, capable and determined and passionate about it. I didn't agree with everything she wanted to do (or not do!) but generally I had a really positive feeling about the direction of travel of the industry under her, for the first time since Adonis.
@richardwhite2325 the latest story in the guardian would support that - she was advised to resign because on assuming office, when asked to declare unspent convictions, she didn't declare this *spent* one. Utterly ridiculous.
@@wurlyone4685 You said yourself it is utterly ridiculous, just like the police bothering to prosecute for a genuine error, and a person pleading guilty and getting a criminal record over the same "genuine mistake". She's either an idiot or a liar, and should have resigned in either case.
Speaking as someone that has a) been mugged on the tube many moons ago and b) worked in IT dealing day in day out with end users losing/breaking company hardware I'm telling you there is absolutely no way the police would be actively involved in any of this ridiculous phone story beyond issuing a crime/case number. As a best guess I would suggest we have a young lady with a history of hardware loss/breakage that was worried that she'd get in trouble at work for yet another careless moment and reported a none existent crime but got rumbled either by the police or her company.
Looks like a Downing St. coup. She was the only Cabinet Minister who seemed to have any idea of what to do and, within weeks, had actually got somewhere. I imagine her fellow cabinet colleagues felt threatened.
I agree with Richard's comment about Louise being passionate about public transport- she got on with her job from the word go. I am sorry that she has gone but I hope that her successor also gets on with it with the same enthusiasm. Was she stabbed in the back by someone with an ulterior motive? I don't know, but I suspect so. Her conviction (for whatever) was spent, so should not have affected her position. It is worth remembering that Jeffery Archer was able to retake his place in the House of Lords after a prison sentence (might have been fraud and/or perjury?), thereby allowing him to affect legislation. As regards Louise's comments on P&O, I used to work for that company when it was British owned and they were very good employers. Like so many British companies, they have now been sold off and it seems to come as a total surprise that the new owners have different values regarding their workforce.
@@GreenSignals That is true but it's the start to getting our railways back to how they were for the people not profit. I'm pleased it's gone through I ran the local rail users group before I had to give up for family reasons and we seen the hell strikes, COVID and others. The railway is disorganized sometimes and it needs a shake up and this will do it
'Stabbed in the back' for sure, singing her praises one week, saying goodbye the next, why is it that politics is full of snakes & grasses? I wish she stayed as surely if now her history is an issue how come it wasn't an issue at her appointment? Ugh.
I think it was her work phone as well. I bet at 23 she’s thought, ah no, it’s gone as well! A little bit of a life experience, when she found it and then thought, ah, embarrassing what do I do?! Panicked and with the lawyer she’s just had a bad experience from a traumatic experience after being mugged. I don’t think it deserved this, she was honest and mentioned it too.
@@LittleWing-35 You think the police would charge someone for getting in a muddle over what had been taken during a mugging? No, they wouldn't. But they might charge someone who'd made up a story of being mugged...
In addition to the excellent Green Signals, may I recommend the RUclips channel of Intel Lady, for further details of government policy? It's very entertaining (I have no connection other than as a viewer).
All done and dusted, on the day the country is well and truly diverted by the assisted dying bill! Coincidence?? I think not, and suspect this has further to run!
@@andrewhotston983 Petitions aren't worth anything any more though, anyone can sign them on the internet. At first they were a great idea, and petitions would gather hundreds of thousands of signatures, these days they get in the millions and not all of them from this country. It's too hard to game that system.
My first instinct was, that it was someone from the Unions putting the boot in… given that she has spoken so much about having to change the “culture” at the Railways. 🤔☹️
Just suppose, for instance, that someone fabricated a story of being mugged and having their phone stolen, in order to get a shiny new work phone like their colleagues had been given. But, of course, if you're a bit stupid, you retain the old phone and the police miraculously put two and two together and realise that the mugging never happened, and charge the person accordingly? Of course, the most improbable aspect of that purely hypothetical story is the idea that the police would ever react so proactively to the theft of a phone! Almost as ludicrous as the idea that such a person would be appointed as a minister in Westminster...
@@andrewhotston983 The police actually did work back then. It was before Theresa May, as Home Sec, reduced their numbers and subsequent staffing issues.
Men tend to hang on too long, Women tend to Jump. I'm sure she is writing her Open Letter as we speak. It was always going to be the danger of this new government; lots of cage rattlers - for good, for bad.
If there were multiple phones involved, over a period of time, as reported by The Times, her position was clearly untenable. Starmer cannot have been aware of that. And the fact she worked for an insurance company(!!!) when the fraud was committed, calls her judgement even more into question. She was sacked by Aviva. I don't get any sense of loss for the railway with her sudden departure. The govt policies will remain the same. GBR will remain rudderless, presumably because no-one with the right talent would touch being CEO with a bargepole! The unions will continue to run the rail industry. And Labour will get trounced in 2029, with rail performance still being shite being a minor contributory factor 🤣🤣🤣
Absolutely shocking hatchet job from mcsweeney wouldn’t be surprised if it was a civil service conspiracy too Hopefully she gets quietly brought back at the first reshuffle
@@andrewhotston983 yes because it’s a total non issue form a decade ago that suddenly appeared in the press from ‘sources’ just as she starts to make headway
@Adam-pk2te You're naive if you think (1) someone would plead guilty and get a criminal record over a "mistake" in reporting a phone had been stolen, and (2) a minister would resign so quickly because a journalist had dug up an ancient "non issue"!
Londoner, disappointing for the rest of the country as wont be interested in fighting Whitehall dogma that its not worth investing in transport projects outside the capital.
I agree with. Nigel on this . She should not have resigned. I do think our PM has made an error not getting the likes of Andrew adonis back he won't hold back
Well, of ALL of them that may have skeletons in cupboards, Haigh going is not the one followers of GS would have wished for..... Many loose lipped idiotic commentators rejoicing because "she" paid the Drivers a fortune ... Perhaps she was just too "Northern" to fit. A "Brutus" move ? or is that idea Daft? Heidi High...Ho de ho.. (GBR moving to Swindon? )
@ by all definitions Haigh is rehabilitated having a criminal revised should not bar one from public life especially when they were actually somewhat educated about their brief!
I find it difficult to believe a victim of a mugging would be charged for something that would be hard to prove not to be a mistake. I have left my phone at home and not realised until I wanted to use it, so if I experienced an attack and my phone wasn't present afterward, I too might report it as missing. Compared to what other politicians have done in recent years and not resigned when found out, I don't see a spent minor conviction of this nature as relevant to her position in government.
Another dead weight gone. I wonder if the replacement knows what a bogie or track circuit or a bus is. Another one in charge . ???????? What a sad state of affairs. Northern/ Trans Pennine etc.
UPDATE: Almost as soon as we had recorded the show, it was announced that Heidi Alexander, previously Minister for Courts and Social Justice, has been appointed as Secretary of State for Transport. She has also previously been Deputy Mayor of London for Transport from 2018 and departed her role in 2022 to prepare for a return to Parliament which she did at the 2024 General Election. She is the MP for Swindon South.
I`m not sure about Heidi Alexander, she is my M.P. and openly admitted to voting to scrap winter payments rather than give up her justice job.
Heidi clearly brings experience - which is helpful - but I worry about there now being 2 TfL heavy hitters in charge of the national industry.
TfL rail operations deliver quite good service to customers at the coal face, but they are anything but efficient in the way they structure the organisations and contracts behind the scenes.
It will obviously also be difficult to escape arguments and impressions - valid or otherwise - of London and 'TfL' bias.
Good that she's got prior experience in Transport at a local government level, worrying that we have a Londoner who might not push as hard against entrenched Whitehall dogma for improvements outside the capital.
@@watcherzero5256 She was born and raised in Swindon, so might not favour everything London
Great appointment has tonnes of experience from TfL!!!
Never mind the general media, breaking railway news and honest, educated comments come from Green Signals. Very well done.
It's a real shame - she was a breath of fresh air, capable and determined and passionate about it.
I didn't agree with everything she wanted to do (or not do!) but generally I had a really positive feeling about the direction of travel of the industry under her, for the first time since Adonis.
Someone was out to to get her ?
@richardwhite2325 the latest story in the guardian would support that - she was advised to resign because on assuming office, when asked to declare unspent convictions, she didn't declare this *spent* one. Utterly ridiculous.
@@wurlyone4685 You believe what's in The Guardian??
@andrewhotston983 Show me evidence to not believe that story.
@@wurlyone4685 You said yourself it is utterly ridiculous, just like the police bothering to prosecute for a genuine error, and a person pleading guilty and getting a criminal record over the same "genuine mistake". She's either an idiot or a liar, and should have resigned in either case.
So good to listen to both of you on this breaking news story with your incisive and well measured responses.
All roads lead to DP World.
And there's me thinking that having a criminal record was a qualification to be an mp.
The boot has well and truly been put in !
It's more like a trapdoor has opened beneath her - one of Haigh's own making.
This is good news!!!
We can only go on with whats in the press???
Speaking as someone that has a) been mugged on the tube many moons ago and b) worked in IT dealing day in day out with end users losing/breaking company hardware I'm telling you there is absolutely no way the police would be actively involved in any of this ridiculous phone story beyond issuing a crime/case number. As a best guess I would suggest we have a young lady with a history of hardware loss/breakage that was worried that she'd get in trouble at work for yet another careless moment and reported a none existent crime but got rumbled either by the police or her company.
Precisely.
Looks like a Downing St. coup. She was the only Cabinet Minister who seemed to have any idea of what to do and, within weeks, had actually got somewhere. I imagine her fellow cabinet colleagues felt threatened.
Her fellow cabinet colleagues are all equally out of their depth - feeling inadequate is quite like feeling threatened!
New Transport Secretary - Heidi Alexander.
Such a shame you never got her on the show.
Let the dust settle and get her on!
I agree with Richard's comment about Louise being passionate about public transport- she got on with her job from the word go. I am sorry that she has gone but I hope that her successor also gets on with it with the same enthusiasm.
Was she stabbed in the back by someone with an ulterior motive? I don't know, but I suspect so. Her conviction (for whatever) was spent, so should not have affected her position. It is worth remembering that Jeffery Archer was able to retake his place in the House of Lords after a prison sentence (might have been fraud and/or perjury?), thereby allowing him to affect legislation.
As regards Louise's comments on P&O, I used to work for that company when it was British owned and they were very good employers. Like so many British companies, they have now been sold off and it seems to come as a total surprise that the new owners have different values regarding their workforce.
She should have taken advice form Raynor who is the leading expert on how to brazen out scandals😆
This stinks to High heaven
Hi guys just to let you know if you check parliament bill.. the railway passengers services public ownership bill has now passed through royal assent
It has, but it's more administrative than anything else. The real business of rail reform will come in the future legislation that sets up GBR.
@@GreenSignals That is true but it's the start to getting our railways back to how they were for the people not profit. I'm pleased it's gone through I ran the local rail users group before I had to give up for family reasons and we seen the hell strikes, COVID and others. The railway is disorganized sometimes and it needs a shake up and this will do it
Royal Assent of the bill yesterday was mentioned in her resignation letter.
'Stabbed in the back' for sure, singing her praises one week, saying goodbye the next, why is it that politics is full of snakes & grasses?
I wish she stayed as surely if now her history is an issue how come it wasn't an issue at her appointment? Ugh.
I think it was her work phone as well. I bet at 23 she’s thought, ah no, it’s gone as well! A little bit of a life experience, when she found it and then thought, ah, embarrassing what do I do?! Panicked and with the lawyer she’s just had a bad experience from a traumatic experience after being mugged. I don’t think it deserved this, she was honest and mentioned it too.
@@LittleWing-35 You think the police would charge someone for getting in a muddle over what had been taken during a mugging? No, they wouldn't. But they might charge someone who'd made up a story of being mugged...
In addition to the excellent Green Signals, may I recommend the RUclips channel of Intel Lady, for further details of government policy? It's very entertaining (I have no connection other than as a viewer).
All done and dusted, on the day the country is well and truly diverted by the assisted dying bill! Coincidence?? I think not, and suspect this has further to run!
And as that petition nears three million signatures!
@@andrewhotston983 Petitions aren't worth anything any more though, anyone can sign them on the internet. At first they were a great idea, and petitions would gather hundreds of thousands of signatures, these days they get in the millions and not all of them from this country. It's too hard to game that system.
Sad news …. but you guys need to do another quick emergency cast …. What do we think of Heidi Alexander ?
My first instinct was, that it was someone from the Unions putting the boot in… given that she has spoken so much about having to change the “culture” at the Railways. 🤔☹️
Lost mobile phones ... Boris?? ... Rishy?? ...
One thinks there must be more to this than a spent conviction. Time will tell, but not good to see as there have been so many holders of this position
Just suppose, for instance, that someone fabricated a story of being mugged and having their phone stolen, in order to get a shiny new work phone like their colleagues had been given. But, of course, if you're a bit stupid, you retain the old phone and the police miraculously put two and two together and realise that the mugging never happened, and charge the person accordingly?
Of course, the most improbable aspect of that purely hypothetical story is the idea that the police would ever react so proactively to the theft of a phone! Almost as ludicrous as the idea that such a person would be appointed as a minister in Westminster...
@ you pose an interesting scenario!
@@andrewhotston983 The police actually did work back then. It was before Theresa May, as Home Sec, reduced their numbers and subsequent staffing issues.
Men tend to hang on too long, Women tend to Jump. I'm sure she is writing her Open Letter as we speak. It was always going to be the danger of this new government; lots of cage rattlers - for good, for bad.
If there were multiple phones involved, over a period of time, as reported by The Times, her position was clearly untenable. Starmer cannot have been aware of that. And the fact she worked for an insurance company(!!!) when the fraud was committed, calls her judgement even more into question. She was sacked by Aviva.
I don't get any sense of loss for the railway with her sudden departure. The govt policies will remain the same. GBR will remain rudderless, presumably because no-one with the right talent would touch being CEO with a bargepole! The unions will continue to run the rail industry. And Labour will get trounced in 2029, with rail performance still being shite being a minor contributory factor 🤣🤣🤣
Absolutely shocking hatchet job from mcsweeney wouldn’t be surprised if it was a civil service conspiracy too
Hopefully she gets quietly brought back at the first reshuffle
You dream up some bizarre conspiracy theory, but accept Haigh's risible attempt to explain the incident away?
@@andrewhotston983 yes because it’s a total non issue form a decade ago that suddenly appeared in the press from ‘sources’ just as she starts to make headway
@Adam-pk2te Clearly not a "non-issue", otherwise she wouldn't have resigned!
@@andrewhotston983 the press made it an issue how naive can you be!
@Adam-pk2te You're naive if you think (1) someone would plead guilty and get a criminal record over a "mistake" in reporting a phone had been stolen, and (2) a minister would resign so quickly because a journalist had dug up an ancient "non issue"!
Heid Alexander? My instinct is she's going to be a positive appointment - comments!
Londoner, disappointing for the rest of the country as wont be interested in fighting Whitehall dogma that its not worth investing in transport projects outside the capital.
I agree with. Nigel on this . She should not have resigned.
I do think our PM has made an error not getting the likes of Andrew adonis back he won't hold back
Well, of ALL of them that may have skeletons in cupboards, Haigh going is not the one followers of GS would have wished for..... Many loose lipped idiotic commentators rejoicing because "she" paid the Drivers a fortune ... Perhaps she was just too "Northern" to fit. A "Brutus" move ? or is that idea Daft? Heidi High...Ho de ho.. (GBR moving to Swindon? )
The real shock is that Starmer appointed Haigh as a minister in full knowledge of her criminal past! Yet another gross error of judgement.
Even more shockingly the leader of the opposition admitted to hacking a website and gets rewarded with the leadership!
@@Adam-pk2teDid Kemi get a criminal record? Nice bit of whataboutery, by the way!
@ by all definitions Haigh is rehabilitated having a criminal revised should not bar one from public life especially when they were actually somewhat educated about their brief!
@@Adam-pk2teRubbish. We rightly expect a high standard of behaviour from our government ministers. Haigh clearly fails to meet that standard.
I find it difficult to believe a victim of a mugging would be charged for something that would be hard to prove not to be a mistake. I have left my phone at home and not realised until I wanted to use it, so if I experienced an attack and my phone wasn't present afterward, I too might report it as missing. Compared to what other politicians have done in recent years and not resigned when found out, I don't see a spent minor conviction of this nature as relevant to her position in government.
Another dead weight gone. I wonder if the replacement knows what a bogie or track circuit or a bus is. Another one in charge . ????????
What a sad state of affairs. Northern/ Trans Pennine etc.
I know one who knows exactly what's required -- Andrew Adonis.