Argentina captain Lionel Messi gave a curious message to his players just moments before their World Cup final defeat by Spain, new footage has revealed.

Spain beat the 2022 world champions 1-0 at the MetLife Stadium on Sunday, triumphing thanks to Ferran Torres‘ goal in extra time after dominating the ball in one of the most one-sided World Cup finals ever staged.

Argentina, who had controversially edged past Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland before knocking England out in the semi-finals, were heavily criticised for their aggressive tackling and dirty tactics throughout the tournament – and their World Cup campaign ended in disgrace as they became embroiled in a mass brawl with Spain’s players after the final whistle. 

Speculation that something was not quite right within Argentina’s camp has been circulating on social media after new footage of Messi addressing his players before the final was shared to social media on Monday.

In the video, as Messi prepares to lead Argentina out holding his country’s pennant flag, he turns to his players who appear strangely downbeat and gloomy and says: ‘Come on, guys, stay calm, folks. Let’s stay calm, guys. Let’s just think about playing, stay calm. Let’s forget about everything. Let’s just think about playing, folks.’

The curious message has led many fans to speculate whether Argentina’s camp were in the right frame of mind heading into the huge match.

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Lionel Messi delivered a curious message to his Argentina stars before the World Cup final

Argentina’s World Cup final defeat by Spain ended with a disgraceful brawl on the pitch

Some supporters have theorised whether Messi was telling his team-mates to forget about world football’s negative perception of them throughout the tournament, amid claims that World Cup referees had favoured Argentina in decisions throughout the knockout stage.

After staging a late comeback to win 3-2 against Egypt in the last 16, opposition manager Hossam Hassan furiously accused FIFA of rigging the World Cup after a string of controversial refereeing decisions went against his side.

Switzerland were also furious at officials after their 3-1 defeat by Argentina in the quarter-finals, as forward Breel Embolo was shown a controversial second yellow card following a VAR review.

Other supporters have suggested that Argentina’s stars were emotional about the prospect of playing with 39-year-old all-time great Messi for the final time at the World Cup, despite him not having officially retired yet.

Argentina reacted disgracefully to Spain’s celebrations at the full-time whistle as Leandro Paredes was sent off for throttling Eric Garcia and throwing Gavi to the floor in shameful scenes.

Nahuel Molina also punched Rodri in the torso as he was running by, while Thiago Almada was involved, too. 

Their emotional manager Lionel Scaloni then stormed out of his press conference in tears, saying: ‘We need time to reset and form another group like this one. It’ll be hard to recreate this one. It hurts my soul, I’m sorry.’

Responding to the video of Messi on social media, one fan posted: ‘I know Spain are a quality team, but Argentina’s performance genuinely left me baffled. They looked nothing like the team we’ve come to know. 

‘There was no intensity, no urgency, no excitement completely different from the energy they showed in their previous games. Something felt off about that performance. I still can’t explain what I watched.’

A second fan said in a post: ‘Argentina knew they couldn’t beat Spain so were trying to just make it to penalties.’

A third posted: ‘Something weird is going on here. Very weird. Lionel’s pep talk, Enzo’s eyes, Licha’s red nose… something VERY weird happened before the final. 

‘Neither Messi, nor De Paul, nor Paredes, nor Dibu, NO ONE is posting anything on social media. Minimally weird.’

Another conspiracy theorist added: ‘At the Qatar final, they got off the bus totally unhinged, tearing through everything. Something happened, some argument with Scaloni, Tapia told them something, some FIFA sanction, I don’t know. 

‘They were wrecked physically and mentally. I insist, something really shady went down there and we’re gonna find out about it in 40 years.’

Messi was in tears at the end of the game and refused to watch Spain lift the World Cup trophy

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Fans were not afraid to offer their speculative theories on social media in response to the video

Argentina also made headlines after the World Cup final defeat for refusing to watch Spain lift the trophy.

The defeated finalists collected their silver medals from FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino and US President Donald Trump on the stage at the MetLife Stadium but decided not to watch as Spain lifted the trophy – which is customary in finals of major tournaments.

Instead, the Argentina players, coaching team and staff walked over to the end where the majority of their fans were located and spent time gazing into the crowd with glossy eyes.

Belong Atherton was named in care comparison website Lottie’s list of the top 100 UK care homes for 2026, repeating their success in the 2025 rankings.

Martin Rix, chief executive of Belong, said: “To be recognised as a top UK care provider for a second consecutive year demonstrates the unwavering dedication and effort of our team in providing outstanding care and support for residents and their loved ones.

“Our unique village model enables us to readily adapt our service to our residents’ preferences, enabling every individual to set the pace of their lives, resulting in a truly personalised experience.”

The awards add to a growing list of achievements for both villages, which are rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Belong Wigan previously earned a perfect 10/10 rating from carehome.co.uk and was ranked among the top 20 care homes in the North West for 2026.

Both Wigan and Atherton sites have also been shortlisted for the national Dementia Care Awards and national Palliative & End-of-life Care Awards.

The recognition reflects a commitment to high-quality, specialist care.

The son of a resident at Belong Atherton praised the care provided.

He said: “When choosing a care home, the only one we visited was Belong as it had everything we needed and had a good feel about it.

“The staff were always very caring, however in the last few weeks of Mum’s life we realised just how caring they were, many of the staff treated Mum like she could have been their mother, which was very comforting.”

More information about Belong can be found at www.belong.org.uk or by emailing enquiries@belong.org.uk.

“The little boy was apparently going inside with his mother to use the sweet machine”

A two‑year‑old boy was left ‘with no recognisable facial features’ after a dog “ragged him up and down” in what a witness described as an “absolutely horrific” attack in a pub beer garden.

The incident took place at The Wulstan pub in Wolstanton, Staffordshire, at around 3pm on July 15, shortly after the toddler had been enjoying some food, an onlooker said. Police have confirmed that an investigation into the events is underway, calling on the public to help, The Sentinel reports.

Philip Preece, a reported regular at The Wulstan, saw the alleged attack, claiming that the canine involved was “some kind of Bulldog breed“.

Standard Bulldogs, also known as English Bulldogs, and French Bulldogs are completely legal to own in the UK. However, the American XL Bully is banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

“I was sitting outside with a few people. The child was sitting across from me on another pub table,” Mr Preece explained to The Sentinel. “He was playing with some plastic dinosaurs and sitting with his mum. He had been enjoying some chicken nuggets and chips. Just having a nice family time.

“I went inside the pub to get myself another lager shandy. As I went to go back outside, the mother ran into the pub carrying her child. He was in an absolute mess. You couldn’t make out any of his facial features. He was covered in blood. His mum was too. So much was gushing out.

“I quickly learned he’d been attacked by a dog. I came out of the pub and saw this lad. He had his dog on a lead. But it hadn’t been wearing it earlier. He must have put it on quickly after the attack.”

A West Midlands Ambulance Service statement confirmed that an ambulance and a paramedic officer attended the incident, and that the child was rushed to Royal Stoke University Hospital for ’emergency care’.

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Mr Preece continued: “I asked what the hell was going on. Everyone was hysterical. A young lad who works for me called 999. Thankfully, the ambulance and the paramedics arrived very quickly to take the boy to hospital. I was in shock.

“He’d just been having a nice time. Then all of a sudden his mum is in tears and he’s bleeding. It was absolutely horrific. It’s not something I’d ever like to see again. Everyone was in utter disbelief.

“The little boy was apparently going inside with his mother to use the sweet machine. Then he’s been attacked. He’s only a baby. The dog ragged him up and down after biting his face. If the dog had gone a bit lower, it could have ended up biting the boy’s throat. It could have been even more serious. We’re all just wishing him a speedy recovery.”

Staffordshire Police are appealing for witnesses following the alleged attack. A police spokesman said: “We were called to The Wulstan following reports that a child had been bitten by a dog.

“Officers attended the scene alongside colleagues from West Midlands Ambulance Service. The child was taken to hospital with facial injuries. He has since been discharged. Our investigation is ongoing and we are appealing for anyone with any information that might help our investigation to contact us.”

Witnesses should call the police on 101, quoting incident number 592 of 15 July, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

A 44-year-old woman has died and a 46-year-old man has been arrested following a disturbance in Edinburgh.

A woman has died following a disturbance at a home in Edinburgh.

Emergency services were called to Craigievar Square after the alarm was raised at around 8.45pm last night.

A 44-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene and a 46-year-old man has since been arrested in connection.

It’s understood the Mid Yoken pub, just over a mile away, has also been locked down and is being guarded by police.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “A woman has died following a disturbance at a property in Craigievar Square, Edinburgh.

“Emergency services were called to the incident around 8.45pm on Monday, 20, July, 2026.

“A 44-year-old woman was found with serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her next of kin are aware.

“A 46-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident and enquiries are ongoing.

“There is no risk to the wider public and a police presence will remain in the area while enquiries continue.”

Holly Willoughby turned to her 15-year-old daughter Belle for advice on how YouTube works – despite launching her brand new show, Together, on the channel. 

The presenter, 45, filmed herself in the back of a taxi as she and Belle headed to the press launch on Monday. 

While Belle didn’t make an appearance in the clip, her voice could be overheard in the background sniggering as Holly tried to explain how YouTube works. 

Holly said: ‘Hello, hello, I’m heading over to the press launch of the new show, Holly Willoughby together.

‘It’s the launch, I’m very excited because this is the first time anybody is going to get to see the trailer. Today’s the day.

‘What I’m going to do is I’m going to put the trailer so you guys get to see it, over on the YouTube channel. First time I’ve said that, tomorrow, so that’s Tuesday.

‘I’m not quite sure when it’s going to go on there, so I think, and I’m looking at my daughter here now because this is all new territory, but if you head on over there, search it, Holly Willoughby Together YouTube, go and subscribe.’ 

After fluffing the word subscribe, Holly admitted she has to start saying it. 

Then the presenter turned to Belle and said: ‘Then I think you press the bell thing which gives you a notification when something drops, is that right?’

She then told her daughter to ‘stop laughing’, before asking: ‘You press the bell, don’t you, Belle?’

Holly’s daughter Belle provided inspiration for her next venture as the teenager is of a generation that no longer watches terrestrial TV but is glued to YouTube instead.

The new project, which she is self-funding, will involve both producing and presenting her own show, as well as celebrity interviews. Read the full story here. 

Holly Willoughby Together will launch on July 28 as a twice-weekly broadcast under five sections: Talk Together, Cook Together, Look Good Together, Better Together, and Hang Out Together.

She is working with a team at her husband Dan Baldwin’s television production company Hungry Bear, which is behind shows such as Gladiators and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, both screened on BBC One.

Holly Willoughby Together will launch on July 28 as a twice-weekly broadcast on YouTube

‘Holly has done television for 25 years, and now she wants to make her own thing,’ a friend of the star told The Mail on Sunday in January. ‘And now daytime television is very much on the slide and it’s time for something new. She is excited, it is something so new and innovative, hopefully it will work.

‘The television landscape has changed so much, people are consuming content on TikTok and other digital platforms.

‘Holly has seen an opportunity now to start something new, which has a future, unlike the kind of stuff she has done in the past.’

When Holly left This Morning after learning of an extraordinary plot to kidnap, rape, and murder her, she found herself with much more time on her hands.

For 14 years, she’d been up at the crack of dawn to sit on the sofa and present the show next to her former co-star and friend, Phillip Schofield. Holly had been ITV’s busiest star, and bosses at the network wanted her on screen as much as possible.

But Holly had been left badly shaken by the kidnap threat, for which former security guard Gavin Plumb was handed a life sentence in 2024.

Her return to TV was gradual, first hosting two episodes of You Bet for ITV and the Netflix reality show Bear Hunt in February 2025.

Since then, she has been a stay-at-home mum to Harry, 17, Belle and 11-year-old Chester, which she ‘loved’. Now, however, she is ready to get back out into the limelight.

Residents of Cambridge and surrounding villages have reported assaults and robberies

Five teenagers have been arrested after anti-social behaviour concerns. Assaults and robberies are among the incidents that have been reported by residents of Cambridge and surrounding villages.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson said: “We know many residents in Cambridge city centre, Histon, Impington and Cottenham have raised concerns about anti-social behaviour, assaults, robberies and other incidents involving groups of young people.

“Our officers have been carrying out extensive enquiries and have made a number of arrests in connection with reported offences.”

Five teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been arrested and/or charged in relation to reported offences. These include:

• A 14-year-old boy charged with three counts of common assault and arrested on suspicion of robbery.
• A 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of theft of a pedal cycle and dealt with through the Youth Offending Service. He has also been arrested on suspicion of robbery and criminal damage.
• A 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of theft, racially aggravated common assault and robbery. He has been bailed with conditions not to enter Cambridge city centre.
• A 13-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of assault, theft, robbery, racially aggravated common assault, attempted robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and criminal damage. He has been bailed with conditions not to enter Cambridge city centre.
• A 16-year-old boy charged with three counts of common assault and bailed in connection with a robbery investigation.

A 13-year-old boy was also voluntarily interviewed in connection with allegations of theft, robbery and assault.

Game Retail Limited, the video games retailer that once had more than 300 stores nationwide, fell into administration earlier this year.

A report from joint administrators James Saunders and Lauren Wentworth of KR8 Advisory revealed that, of the £15.8 million total debt, £3.5 million is owed to a secured creditor and around £12 million is owed to unsecured creditors.

Administrators have been appointed for a second time, with the company’s 2011 administration, The Herald exclusively revealed.

Game has fallen into administration (Image: Getty)

The administrators said: “The Game brand was originally established in 1990 and developed into the UK’s leading high street retailer of video games and consoles.

“The company started trading in 2012 following the acquisition of the UK trade and assets of the former The Game Group Plc out of administration.

“At the point of acquisition, the business operated over 300 retail stores together with two e-commerce platforms under the Game and Gamestation brand names.

“Following the completion of the acquisition, the company consolidated its operations under the single Game brand and undertook a financial and operational review, which resulted in the closure of certain loss-making stores but included plans to open new stores.”

Despite a period of renewed profitability, the company was unable to adapt to long-term changes in consumer behaviour and the broader retail landscape.

Administrators pointed to the industry’s shift from physical games to digital downloads, ongoing Brexit uncertainty, and mounting competition as key challenges.

Financial results highlight this decline.

What happens when a company goes into administration?

In the year ending July 2016, Game reported revenue of £584 million -a 10% drop on the previous year – while profit before tax fell 71% to £6.8 million.

By 2017, the company was operating at a loss before tax of £7.1 million on turnover of £493 million.

The financial outlook continued to darken.

By 2019, Game had posted a loss of £43 million on turnover of £423 million.

In a bid to stabilise the business, shareholder Frasers Group later agreed to acquire the company’s intellectual property for a cash sum “to support the ongoing business and make payment of outstanding rent due on the head office”.

However, the move was not enough to turn things around.

The administrators said: “Despite these efforts, the company’s financial position continued to deteriorate during the final quarter of 2025, which historically had been one of the busiest trading months for the business.

“There have been no major console releases since 2020, and large manufacturers have cited global chip shortages as a reason for further delays.”

UK high street shops that no longer exist

The business model, once reliant on physical game and console releases, was unable to pivot effectively to the digital-first landscape now favoured by manufacturers and consumers alike.

Game Retail Limited was ultimately placed into administration.

The administrators said after reviewing the company’s financial and operational position, “the business was no longer viable.”

The company’s secured creditor also withdrew financial support, sealing its fate.

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Administrators now estimate that there may be “sufficient realisations available to enable a distribution to be made to the secured creditor.”

However, they said: “It is currently anticipated that there will be insufficient funds available to enable a distribution to be made to unsecured creditors, other than by way of the prescribed part.”

Some concessions remain operational as part of Frasers Group’s efforts to preserve elements of the Game brand.

Which high street retailer do you miss the most? Tell us in the comments below.

The incident took place in the car park of Eggborough Fisheries on Saturday (July 11) at around 9.30am and involved multiple individuals.

North Yorkshire Police are continuing their investigation and are appealing for information and video footage from the public, including dashcam recordings from passing motorists.

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A police spokesperson said: “Extensive enquiries are ongoing and officers are now appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident or has any video footage, including any passing motorists who may have captured the incident on dashcam, to get in touch if they have not already spoken to the police.”

The two individuals have been released under investigation. 

Members of the public with information can contact police online or call 101, quoting reference 12260131194.

Call The Midwife star Helen George has addressed her split from businessman Dan Innes after she accused him of ‘disrespect’.

The actress, 42, had been dating property marketing agency boss Dan, 52, since March 2025 and he moved into the home she shares with her two children at the beginning of this year following a whirlwind romance. 

On the latest episode of her Mystic Mates podcast, released on Tuesday, Helen spoke about her heartache for the first time, saying: ‘There’s been voice notes, there’s been tears, it’s been pretty s**t.’ 

Earlier this month, it emerged Helen’s relationship had come to an end after Dan was seen moving his belongings out of her west London home – having only moved in at the start of the year.

Asked by her co-host Yvette Robinson what was weighing on her mind, she replied: ‘The recent events in my love life.’

The actress, 42, had been dating property marketing agency boss Dan, 52, since March 2025 and he moved into the home she shares with her two children at the beginning of this year (pictured in June)

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Yvette joked: ‘Do you think that’s because you got a little bit drunk at the weekend?’

Helen replied: ‘No, I’ve been going through some personal things. It’s been pretty s***.’

Later on in the podcast, Yvette decided to do a tarot card reading on Helen’s love life and what she can expect in the future.

She said: ‘You got some challenges ahead, you know. Challenges are good, they make you grow.’

‘Babe, don’t you think I’ve had enough challenge,’ Helen snapped.

Reassuring her friend, Yvette replied: ‘I do feel like with you, Hels, I feel like you’re getting your power back.

‘I feel like you’re such a strong, powerful, amazing woman, and sometimes, can I say, you lose that power a little bit.

‘And we lose you, and we go, “we’ve lost Hels, but she’ll come back.” And then you do come back.’

Shortly after their split, the mother of two shared a cryptic social media post about ‘disrespect’

The Daily Mail revealed last year that Helen had embarked on a new romance with Dan after they met on Raya

Helen split from Dan just seven months after they moved in together.

A source told The Sun at the time: ‘Helen and Dan have gone their separate ways. 

‘They had a whirlwind romance but their differences became apparent. It has been a difficult time for them both.’

Helen had spent that week sharing Instagram posts hinting at heartbreak, uploading a picture of her daughter walking alone through a field with the caption: ‘When the chaos leaves, the calm resumes.’ 

She also posted a popular online quote on her Instagram story, which read: ‘I absolutely take responsibility for when I am wrong. 

‘But I will never apologise for responding to disrespect. If you lit the match, do not stand in the flames pretending to be the victim.’ 

Another repost read: ‘I don’t want my daughter to be like me. I want her to speak up sooner. Walk away faster. Trust herself deeper. Apologise less. Take up more space. Ask bigger questions. Dream louder. And if that means she becomes everything I wasn’t good.’ 

At the time, Dan deleted his Instagram account.

Representatives for Helen were contacted by the Daily Mail for comment.  

The Daily Mail revealed last year that Helen had embarked on a new romance with Dan after they met on Raya. 

The pair spent Valentine’s Day together at a restaurant in Barnes, South London, which Helen documented on her Instagram Stories.

The couple enjoyed a meal at The Waterman Arms as Dan shared a snap of Helen beaming with a bottle of red wine as he joked: ‘Can I get this to go please? #yesyesyes’.

Helen also shared a photo of the two cuddled up in bed together during a Valentine’s break in Cornwall. 

Dan had also accompanied Helen to a number of industry events, including a Call The Midwife screening in March and a Radio Times party in January. 

Dan split up from the mother of his two children – who are 14 and 12 –  in 2016. They married in 2008. 

Before her relationship with Dan, Helen sadly lost her boyfriend to leukaemia.

Helen was dating the man – whose identity she did not disclose – in 2025 when she learnt he had cancer of the blood and bone marrow. 

The very next day, she had to travel to the Bahamas to film ITV series Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters.

‘I had been dating someone who very suddenly got diagnosed with leukaemia,’ she said on her Mystic Mates podcast. ‘It was pretty serious from the start and he knew. 

‘The next day after that happened, I had to fly out to the Bahamas to film the shark documentary.’

You can read Richard Eden’s full article on the ordeal here.

Prior to that, Helen was previously linked with her Call the Midwife co-star Olly Rix, who played her onscreen husband Matthew Aylward.

They reportedly grew close following splits from their respective long-term partners.

At the time, Helen had broken up with her partner of seven years, Jack Ashton, with whom she shares two daughters. 

Meanwhile, Olly had separated from his make-up artist girlfriend Natasha Fagri, whom he’d been dating since 2016.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a grand and stately title but the office tends to be whatever the minister makes of it.

And all the signs are that Louise Haigh will exploit it for all it’s worth – in handing such a fierce and loyal ally control of the all-powerful Cabinet Office, our new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made clear what her real title is: The Enforcer.

From Burnham’s perspective, this appointment makes perfect sense. He and the MP for Sheffield Heeley first met a decade ago and the two soon realised they shared a desire to move the party on from the centrism of the Blair years.

She proved her worth to Burnham as a pivotal player in the long-term plot to oust Sir Keir Starmer, and it was she who managed the future PM’s by-election campaign in Makerfield, the emphatic result of which set the stage for his capture of the Labour leadership and arrival in Downing Street.

No one in government understands his thinking quite like Haigh. And with her down-to-earth take on politics, many see her as Burnham’s representative on Earth.

However, Haigh comes with baggage. Just four months after Starmer made her one of the youngest female Cabinet minister ever appointed, at the age of 36, her stint as Secretary of State for Transport ended in ignominy.

Her November 2024 resignation was prompted by news reports that, a decade earlier, while working for insurance giant Aviva, she had misled police about the fate of a work-issued mobile phone.

Haigh reported the device as stolen in a mugging incident but claimed to have later discovered it in a drawer. When her activation of the ‘missing’ phone alerted her employer, police were called in and Haigh was charged with false representation, a form of fraud.

Ms Haigh is seen as Burnham’s right-hand woman, after managing his by-election campaign in Makerfield that made him eligible to lead the Labour Party

The matter went to magistrates’ court shortly before Haigh became an MP in 2015. She was convicted of fraud by false representation after pleading guilty and was given a conditional discharge.

In her resignation letter, she stuck by her version of events but admitted it had been a ‘mistake’ not to inform her employer promptly upon finding the phone.

Starmer predicted Haigh would have ‘a huge contribution to make in the future’ but little did he know then that her contribution would be helping to bring him down and install his replacement. Politics is a ruthless business.

Given her abrupt exit from government last time, Burnham could be forgiven for harbouring concerns about a repeat performance. After all, Haigh has not always exercised the wisest political judgment.

In October 2024, she called P&O Ferries a ‘rogue operator’ for its 2022 decision to lay off 800 workers and replace them with cheaper agency hires.

The then-transport secretary told ITV News: ‘I’ve been boycotting P&O Ferries for two-and-a-half years and I would encourage consumers to do the same.’

The reaction was swift and ferocious, with P&O immediately pulling out of a Government investment summit and briefly pausing a planned £1billion investment in the London Gateway port expansion. 

Starmer was forced to rebuke his minister publicly to contain the fallout and get P&O back on board.

The P&O incident also provided an insight into Haigh’s immature brand of student-union politics: Rather than work with a sizeable employer, she preferred to grandstand and virtue signal against the hated boss class.

This, more than her plotting prowess, is key to Haigh’s political personality and her likely impact inside the Burnham Government.

It has been made clear by the now Prime Minister that dragging the Labour Party back to the Left is one of the major objectives of the Burnham project. 

Louise Haigh has stopped dyeing her hair but the truth is her roots remain a deep red, writes Stephen Daisley

Haigh, who is the product of a family of trade unionists, will be pivotal to this mission, for – like the boss – her natural territory is Labour’s soft-Left comfort zone, the place where difficult decisions are ducked and the party’s unworldly, economically illiterate core vote is pandered to.

The extent of her radicalism was revealed in a 3,000-word essay she wrote in May for Renewal, a Leftist current affairs journal. In it, she set out an economic vision that should chill the blood of every ambitious and hard-working Briton.

After bashing Brexit – apparently it ‘scarred our economy while dividing our people’ – she lamented that ‘the state’s capacity to play an active role in economic development was hollowed out’ during the Thatcher years, an approach which ‘prioritised market allocation’.

Not only in Britain, but across the world, ‘states retreated from direct economic co-ordination and relied more heavily on liberalised markets and complex regulatory regimes’. Haigh thinks this is a bad thing.

If you strip away the policy wonk verbiage, it’s clear that she is yearning for a return to the bossy-boots socialism of government-knows-best, with its suffocating state interference in the commanding heights of the economy. 

Haigh’s prospectus is a manifesto for a lurch not only to the Left but into the past, a repudiation of Thatcherism and the free market and a reversion to the crippling Keynesian collectivism of the 1970s. 

Haigh goes on to bemoan a policy of ‘meeting near-term fiscal targets’ to reassure the markets instead of ‘delivering long-term economic improvements’.

For the socialist ideologue now installed at the heart of Downing Street, the current economic model needs to be ripped up, and that means ‘looking at the role and mandate of organisations such as the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Treasury and the Bank of England’.

Again, it’s all very bland jargon on the surface but its underlying meaning is positively sinister: Haigh wants to ditch or dilute the very safeguards that prevent government from taxing and spending the country into economic calamity. Or, in her own Orwellian words: ‘The task is not to abandon fiscal discipline, but to redefine it.’

That this is who Burnham considers his right-hand woman is a red flag in all senses of the term. From her lofty perch in the Cabinet Office, Haigh will have considerable power to push the new Prime Minister’s agenda through Whitehall, regardless of any misgivings from the Civil Service.

It’s quite a rise for the Northern lass, whose parents separated when she was a teenager and she and her brother – the darts and snooker journalist Phil Haigh – moved in with their mother, who enrolled her in an all-girls’ private school in Sheffield.

Haigh, whose father was a solicitor, went on to study at the London School of Economics, Nottingham University and Birkbeck College.

Before politics she worked as a waitress for seven years in Sheffield, served as a special constable with the Metropolitan Police, and was a shop steward for the Unite union. 

Haigh was eventually selected for the safe seat of Sheffield Heeley in 2015, when the incumbent Meg Munn stood down.

She was appointed to a series of Shadow Cabinet posts under Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer, including Northern Ireland, and it was in this role she met her partner Colum Eastwood, the MP for Foyle and former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Prior to that, she was in a brief relationship with TV presenter Nick Knowles.

Today, Haigh keeps her personal life in Sheffield separate from her political role in Westminster. She lives with her lurcher, Milo, and seeks solace from Westminster with old friends.

Haigh has stopped dyeing her hair but the truth is her roots remain a deep red. Be warned: If you’re hard working, high earning, aspirational, or would like to keep just a little of your own money, Louise Haigh is coming for you.