‘Work commitments’ keep Labour’s new ‘Tsar’ (and Boris Johnson’s ex-wife) Marina Wheeler from party’s conference

Leading barrister, and Boris Johnson’s ex-wife, Marina Wheeler had hoped to attend the party’s annual conference this week, The Independent understands.

Ms Wheeler, who was on Saturday unveiled as Labour's new adviser on whistleblowing, is helping Sir Keir Starmer’s party develop its policy to help victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.

She told The Independent it was a “privilege” to help Labour protect women from abusive colleagues. Her appointment has been widely viewed as a coup for Labour.

She is the second high-profile woman from outside party politics to join Sir Keir’s team. It follows the appointment of former civil servant Sue Gray, whose report into lockdown-busting parties inside No 10 during his time as prime minister contributed to his downfall.

Ms Wheeler will advise the shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, who will set out the plans in her speech to the event on Tuesday.

The Independent understands that Ms Wheeler had initially hoped to attend the conference, being held in Liverpool this week. The meeting could be the last such gathering before the party tries to oust the Tories at the next general election. Sources claimed that work commitments had kept Ms Wheeler away, however.

Whistleblowers are already protected from unfairly losing their job, but the law only applies in certain scenarios, including potential miscarriages of justice or criminal wrongdoing.

The government’s current guidance on whistleblowing warns that: “Personal grievances (for example bullying, harassment, discrimination) are not covered by whistleblowing law, unless your particular case is in the public interest.”

Ms Wheeler said that the at the moment: "(Women in the workplace) too often suffer sexual harassment and assault and they pay a heavy price for speaking out. Knowing this, and to keep their jobs, they suffer in silence."

Ms Thornberry will tell her party's conference that while the prime minister says he knows what a woman is there is a “difference between a Tory government that pretends to care about women's rights, and a Labour Party that delivers them."

In another landmark change, common-law wives who live with their partners will also get the same rights, including over property, as married women should their relationship end.