Starmer facing questions over appointing rail minister who had whistleblower sacked

Sir Keir Starmer is facing serious questions over the appointment of Lord Peter Hendy as his rail minister after it emerged that he forced an award-winning engineer to be sacked for speaking to The Independent.

Shadow transport secretary Helen Whately has written to Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden asking about the vetting process for the minister who is at the heart of another sleaze scandal to hit the new Labour government less than two months into office.

Already questions are being asked over why a major Labour donor Lord Alli was granted a high security grade Downing Street pass after the election. There have also been allegations over cronyism over appointments of Labour supporters to senior civil service roles.

Politico revealed that Lord Hendy, in his previous role as infrastructure manager at Network Rail used his power and influence to force a whistleblower to be sacked.

Gareth Dennis, had spoken to The Independent over concerns about overcrowding at London’s Euston station making it “unsafe” because it could result in a crush.

Hendy responded by demanding that the award-winning engineer was disciplined and he told his employer SYSTRA that “finding a potential supplier criticising a possible client reflects adversely on your likelihood of doing business with us or our supply chain.”

Ms Whately has demanded answers over Lord Hendy’s appointment.

She said: “Labour and Lord Hendy have serious questions to answer about this.

“Getting an engineer sacked for raising safety concerns would be shocking. We need a culture in Government where people aren’t afraid to speak up when something’s wrong, not one where whistleblowers are threatened.”

“We now need to know who knew what and when, and whether Keir Starmer thinks his minister's conduct is acceptable.”

Further communications show that Hendy took issue with a quote from Mr Dennis to The Independent newspaper in April where he warned: “You’re talking about thousands of people squished into that space. It’s not just uncomfortable, it’s not just unpleasant, it’s unsafe.”

Hendy told his communications chief: “Please check whether we have … and or are currently employing him as we should stop. Accusing [Network Rail] of operating the station unsafely is unacceptable.”

Lord Hendy was approached for comment.

The issue has raised concerns over the protection of whistleblowers raising issues of public safety.

Sir Keir had pledged before the election to bring in a duty of candour for people involved in public services and greater protections for whistleblowers.

This had followed a series of scandals and cover-ups over the infected blood scandal, the Hillsborough disaster, and the Horizon/ post office scandal.

The Independent revealed that cover-ups and a failure to listen to whistleblowers has already left the new government with a bill of at least £47 billion to meet in compensation to victims, with the figure likely to increase.

Hendy is now in charge of rail reform with a major bill on nationalising the whole rail network coming to Parliament again next week.

The government was approached for comment.