Harriet Harman
Encyclopedia
Harriet Ruth Harman QC (Hon.)
(born 30 July 1950) is a British
Labour Party
politician
, who is the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessor
Peckham
constituency from 1982
to 1997. She was the interim Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 11 May to 25 September 2010, until Ed Miliband
took over the role.
In 2007, she was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and served in the Cabinet
as Leader of the House of Commons
, Lord Privy Seal
, and Minister for Women and Equality
from 2007 to 2010. Following the resignation of Gordon Brown
as Prime Minister
and Labour Leader on 11 May 2010 following his failure to win the general election (which ended in a hung parliament
) five days earlier, Harman became interim Party Leader and interim Leader of the Opposition. She served in both roles until the Labour Party elected Ed Miliband Leader.
Miliband appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and in the 2011 reshuffle, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. She will act as stand-in Leader during Prime Minister's Questions, when Miliband is away and gets to engage during Deputy Prime Minister's Questions with current Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
. She is the current female MP with the longest period of continuous service in the House of Commons.
physician John Bishop Harman
FRCP. Her parents each had non-conformist backgrounds – her grandfather Nathaniel Bishop Harman was a prominent Unitarian
and the Spicer family were well known congregationalists. Her aunt was Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, and her cousins include writers Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington
, and Thomas Pakenham.
Harman attended a fee-paying public school, St Paul's Girls' School
and then the University of York
, where she gained a BA
in Politics. Between 1978 and 1982, she was legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties
and was found in contempt of court
by Mr Justice Hugh Park
, see Harman v The Home Office (the conviction for contempt being upheld on appeal), before becoming MP for Peckham in a by-election
in 1982. However, Harman took the case to the European Court of Human Rights
in Strasbourg and successfully argued that the prosecution had breached her right to freedom of expression. In the field of public law, Harman v United Kingdom is still cited in textbooks.
Harman was later involved in a European Court of Human Rights
case against MI5 after it was revealed by whistleblower Cathy Massiter in 1984 that personal files were held by MI5
on Harman and on another leading member of the NCCL – Patricia Hewitt
. They successfully argued that there had been an infringement of their rights because MI5 was not a legally constituted and democratically accountable organisation, this being the minimum standard in democracy. The success of the case led to enactment of the Security Service Act 1989.
for Peckham
with a majority of 3,931 votes.
Harman is a committed feminist, having said, "I am in the Labour Party because I am a feminist. I am in the Labour Party because I believe in equality." Because of her unabashed feminism, her detractors have given her the nickname 'Harriet Harperson' and have referred to her as the 'patron saint of equality'.
she entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
(1992–1994) and later served as Shadow Employment Secretary (1994–1995), Shadow Health Secretary (1995–1996) and Shadow Social Security Secretary (1996–1997).
, she became Secretary of State for Social Security and was given the task of reforming the Welfare State. During this time, her more notable policies included introducing a minimum income guarantee and winter fuel payments for the elderly. It was later ruled that the fuel payments policy breached European sex discrimination laws in that men had to wait five years longer to receive them than women. The policy was amended so both sexes qualified at age 60. Harman was sacked from the position in 1998. According to many in the media, this was the result of a series of public rows with junior minister Frank Field
, though others also cited her decision to cut benefits to lone parents as a factor.
Harman made a return to the front bench after the 2001 general election
, with her appointment to the office of Solicitor General
, thus becoming the first female Solicitor General. In accordance with convention, she was appointed as Queen's Counsel
, although she was never a barrister
, had no rights of audience in the higher courts, did not obtain them and never presented a case during her time as Solicitor General, or at all.
After the 2005 general election
, she became a Minister of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs
with responsibilities including constitutional reform, legal aid and court processes and she represented Lord Falconer in the House of Commons on the frontbench.
On 16 March 2006, Harman relinquished her ministerial responsibilities for electoral administration and reform of the House of Lords
. She stated that this was to avoid any potential conflict of interest after her husband Jack Dromey
, the Treasurer of the Labour Party, announced that he would be investigating a number of loans made to the Labour Party that had not been disclosed to party officers. She retained her other responsibilities.
and is regarded as a personal friend. On 28 June 2007, after she became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Brown became leader and was appointed Prime Minister, Harman joined Brown's Cabinet
as Leader of the House of Commons
, Lord Privy Seal
and Minister for Women and Equality
, and was also given the title of Labour Party Chair. Unlike the previous Deputy Leader, John Prescott, Harman was not given the title of 'Deputy Prime Minister'.
When Harman, as Leader of the House of Commons, stood in for Gordon Brown during Prime Minister's Questions
on Wednesday 2 April 2007 (due to the Prime Minister attending a NATO summit in Romania
), she became the first female Labour Minister to take Prime Minister's Questions. She subsequently repeated this during Brown's absences.
Harman attacked the Conservative Party at the Labour Party Conference 2007, referring to them as the "nasty party" and suggesting that there would be little competition at the next election.
On 1 April 2008 the Daily Mail
reported that Harman had decided to wear a kevlar
-reinforced stab vest
while touring her Peckham
constituency under police guard. On 2 April The Guardian
relayed information from the Metropolitan Police
that "the type of Met Vest she wore over her jacket protected her from knife attacks and bullets, and, for her at least, was optional". Harman compared the decision to wearing a hard hat
while touring a building site, which led the BBC's John Humphrys
to respond, during an interview for BBC Radio 4
, "You wear a hard hat on a building site because... there is the danger that something might drop on your head. You don't need to wear a bullet-proof vest on the streets of London, do you!" Harman told the BBC that the neighbourhood police team she was with put on their stab vests and gave her one to wear as well.
In April 2008, Harman's blog was "hacked" and changed to state that she had joined the Conservative Party. Harman later admitted when questioned by Sky News that the incident was a result of her using "Harriet" and "Harman" as her username and password.
in 1994.
After Brown's resignation, she quickly announced that she would remain Deputy Leader rather than standing for election as Leader
. Her only public explanation was the assertion that: “You can’t run for leader at the same time as being deputy leader”.
She nominated Diane Abbott
, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, to prevent the election from being all male. But she nonetheless asserted her intention to remain neutral throughout the contest and said, "This is a very crucial period and we have got five fantastic candidates. All of them would make excellent leaders of the party."
Following Ed Miliband
's election as leader, she returned to her role as Deputy Leader. When Miliband assigned portfolios on 8 October 2010, he appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.
In 2010, Harman controversially referred to Danny Alexander
as a "ginger rodent" in a speech to the Scottish Labour Party
conference which was greeted with cheers and laughter from the conference, however the Liberal Democrats
and the SNP
referred to those remarks as gingerism and "anti-Scottish". Harman apologized for the offence caused.
In 2011, Harman was moved to become Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport due to her good perfomance over the phone hacking scandal and her several attacks to the David Cameron's association with Andy Coulson
.
, Harman announced a consultation on changing the existing discrimination
laws, which included options for Reverse discrimination
in employment. Under the proposals, employers would be legally allowed to discriminate in favour of a job candidate on the basis of their race or gender where the candidates were otherwise equally qualified. Employers would not be required to use these powers, but would be able to do so without the threat of legal action for discriminatory practices. Harman has stated that this proposal would not simply involve discrimination against white males, and that men will benefit in some circumstances; for example if a school wanted to balance a predominantly female workforce by discriminating in favour of employing a male teacher. The white paper also proposed measures to end age discrimination, promote transparency in organisations and introduce a new equality duty on the public sector. These changes, if made, could face a challenge under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights
, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, colour, language, religion and on several other criteria. Michael Millar, writing in The Spectator
was of the opinion that, "The Equality Bill before parliament today gives employers the right to choose an ethnic minority candidate or female candidate over a white male, specifically because they are an ethnic minority or female." Some commentators, however, such as Graham Kirby, writing for the blogging site The Samosa, have defended the act as essentially meritocratic and necessary.
Harman also commissioned a report on allowing political parties to draw up all-black shortlists designed to increase the number of black MPs in Westminster. A further report proposed extended the arrangement allowing all-women shortlists
beyond 2015 which will fail to have any impact in the 2010 general election. These proposals are supported by members of the three major parties, though no others allow discrimination in their shortlists. Inside the Labour Party, Harman has said she does "not agree with all-male leaderships" because men "cannot be left to run things on their own"; and that, consequently, one of Labour's top two posts should always be held by a woman.
She has backed plans for an increase in the number of homosexual MPs, and suggested that 39 openly
gay
MPs should be in the current Parliament. The target is based on an official estimate that six per cent of Britain is homosexual; however, such targets have been criticised for failing to take account of gay MPs who prefer to keep their sexuality private
.
if the Labour Party should say sorry for what happened, Jon Cruddas
said that it should and Harman replied that she agreed with his statement. Later Harman appeared to backtrack on BBC Radio 4
's Today Programme
and asked for evidence to be provided of where she had stated that the party should apologise.
criticised the views expressed by Harman and her co-authors in the 1990 IPPR
report "The Family Way". Writing in the Daily Mail
, Pizzey claimed the report was a "staggering attack on men and their role in modern life" as a result of its stating, "it cannot be assumed that men are bound to be an asset to family life or that the presence of fathers in families is necessarily a means to social cohesion".
In May 2008 an interview she gave to think tank Civitas Harman stated that there was "no ideal type of household in which to bring up children".
In June 2008, two members of Fathers 4 Justice
staged a protest on the roof of her house in Herne Hill
, south east London, they had a banner that read: "A father is for life not just conception." After they climbed back off the roof they were arrested by the Metropolitan Police
and bailed until 16 July 2008. On the morning of 9 July 2008, fathers for justice again climbed on Harman's roof with a banner that read, "Stop war on dads." One of the complaints of the protesters was that Harman had refused their requests for a meeting yet she denied that they had even requested such a meeting.
when John Prescott
stood down. On 27 November 2006 Patrick Wintour reported that she had commissioned an opinion poll that had found that she would be more popular with the electorate than any of the other likely candidates. She used this point to argue that she should become the next Deputy Prime Minister
in an interview with the BBC.
Harman did not have the support of any major unions, and helped to fund her campaign for deputy leadership by taking out a personal loan of £10,000 and a £40,000 extension to her mortgage. Harman failed to report some donations and loans on time, and was subject to an Electoral Commission
inquiry for breaches of electoral law. The commission said that her "failure to report on time is a serious matter" though the case was not handed over to the police.
On 24 June 2007, in what was a close contest Harman was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Alan Johnson
had led in all but the first of the previous rounds, but when second-preference votes had been redistributed after the fourth round, Harman stood elected with 50.43% of the vote to Johnson's 49.56%
newspaper into other donations made by people associated with Abrahams, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's assertion that all such monies would be returned, Harman issued a statement saying she accepted the donation on 4 July "in good faith," had registered the monies with the Electoral Commission
and the Register of Members' Interests, and that she "was not aware of any funding arrangements... between David Abrahams and Janet Kidd".
reported that at the end of 2009 Harman had hosted a new year's house party at her second home in Suffolk
with guests including Patricia Hewitt
, at "least one other minister" and another MP. It reported that she told guests that Gordon Brown was "hopeless" and that there were at least five members of the Cabinet who would tell Gordon Brown that he should resign. After the Christmas recess, Hewitt and Geoff Hoon
wrote an open letter calling for a leadership election. This failed to get support from any serving minister, including Harman, and no election occurred, leading to the accusation that "Harriet bottled it".
. The failure of the motion led to the disclosure of expenses of British Members of Parliament.
In December 2010 it emerged that Harman was amongst 40 MPs who had secretly repaid wrongly claimed expenses between 2008 and 2010. Her case related to misusing Commons stationery for writing to non-constituents and she repaid £13.20. In November 2010 Harman's parliamentary private secretary Ian Lavery
had blocked a motion designed to allow the repayments to be made public.
In June 2009, Sir Michael Scholar
, head of the UK Statistics Authority
, wrote to Harman to warn her that different headline figures used by the ONS and Government Equalities Office with regards to pay differentiation between men and women might undermine public trust in official statistics. The GEO's headline figure was 23%, which was based on median hourly earnings of all employees, not the 12.8%, based on median hourly earnings of full-time employees only, used by the ONS. Scholar wrote: "It is the Statistics Authority’s view that use of the 23% on its own, without qualification, risks giving a misleading quantification of the gender pay gap". The Equalities Office rejected his criticism, saying: "With women representing over three-quarters of the part-time workforce, we believe this figure gives the fullest picture of the country's gender pay gap."
in 1982 in Brent
, London, after meeting him on the picket line of the Grunwick dispute
in 1977; she was legal advisor to the Grunwick Strike Committee. They have two sons (born February 1983 and November 1984) and a daughter (born January 1987), with the latter having the surname "Harman". Labour colleague Patricia Hewitt
is godmother to one of her children. She has a house in Suffolk, in addition to her home in Herne Hill, South London.
In 1996, Harman sent her younger son Joseph to St Olave's Grammar School
, Orpington
after sending her elder son Harry to the London Oratory School
, a grant-maintained school
. Harman said: "This is a state school that other children in my son's class will be going to... And admission is open to every child in Southwark irrespective of money or who their parents are".
.
In 2007, Harman was issued with a £60 fixed penalty notice
and given three penalty points on her licence for driving at 50 mi/h in a temporary 40 mi/h zone. Harman paid the fine several months late and avoided appearing at Ipswich
magistrates court. Harman was again caught breaking the speed limit the following April, this time in a 30 mph zone, receiving a further 3 points on her driving licence.
In January 2010, Harman pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention
in relation to an incident on 3 July where she struck another vehicle whilst driving using a mobile phone
, she admitted the offence in court becoming the first serving Cabinet minister in memory to plead guilty to a criminal offence. Harman was fined £350, ordered to pay £70 costs, a £15 victim surcharge and had three points added to her licence. Road safety organisations such as Brake
condemned the leniency of the punishment and decision to drop the charge of driving whilst using a mobile phone. The judge defended the decision stating "Ms Harman’s guilty plea to driving without due care and attention included her admitting that she had been using a mobile phone at the time".
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Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(born 30 July 1950) is a British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, who is the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessor
Peckham
Peckham (UK Parliament constituency)
Peckham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
constituency from 1982
Peckham by-election, 1982
The Peckham by-election of 28 October 1982 was held after the death of Labour Member of Parliament Harry Lamborn on 21 August 1982. The seat was retained for Labour by Harriet Harman.-Results:...
to 1997. She was the interim Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 11 May to 25 September 2010, until Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
took over the role.
In 2007, she was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and served in the Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
as Leader of the House of Commons
Leader of the House of Commons
The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons...
, Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...
, and Minister for Women and Equality
Minister for Women and Equality
The post of Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom with responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality.-History:...
from 2007 to 2010. Following the resignation of Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
and Labour Leader on 11 May 2010 following his failure to win the general election (which ended in a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
) five days earlier, Harman became interim Party Leader and interim Leader of the Opposition. She served in both roles until the Labour Party elected Ed Miliband Leader.
Miliband appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and in the 2011 reshuffle, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. She will act as stand-in Leader during Prime Minister's Questions, when Miliband is away and gets to engage during Deputy Prime Minister's Questions with current Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
. She is the current female MP with the longest period of continuous service in the House of Commons.
Early life
She was born in London to Anna Harman (née Spicer), a solicitor married to a Harley StreetHarley Street
Harley Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery.- Overview :...
physician John Bishop Harman
John B. Harman
John Bishop Harman, FRCS, FRCP was a British physician, president of the Medical Defence Union and chairman of the British National Formulary. He was also notable as a medical expert witness for the defence in the trial of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams...
FRCP. Her parents each had non-conformist backgrounds – her grandfather Nathaniel Bishop Harman was a prominent Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
and the Spicer family were well known congregationalists. Her aunt was Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, and her cousins include writers Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington
Lady Rachel Billington
Lady Rachel Billington is a British author, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Longford, who were both eminent writers. She is the sister of Lady Antonia Fraser and Thomas Pakenham, also writers. Her husband is the film director Kevin Billington.She has published 19 adult novels and 7...
, and Thomas Pakenham.
Harman attended a fee-paying public school, St Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School is a senior independent school, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England.-History:In 1904 a new day school for girls was established by the trustees of the Dean Colet Foundation , which had run St Paul's School for boys since the sixteenth century...
and then the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
, where she gained a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Politics. Between 1978 and 1982, she was legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties
Liberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...
and was found in contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
by Mr Justice Hugh Park
Hugh Park
Sir Hugh Park, was a Judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench Division. In 1976, he was the judge in the trial that convicted Stefan Kiszko of the murder of Lesley Molseed...
, see Harman v The Home Office (the conviction for contempt being upheld on appeal), before becoming MP for Peckham in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in 1982. However, Harman took the case to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
in Strasbourg and successfully argued that the prosecution had breached her right to freedom of expression. In the field of public law, Harman v United Kingdom is still cited in textbooks.
Harman was later involved in a European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
case against MI5 after it was revealed by whistleblower Cathy Massiter in 1984 that personal files were held by MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
on Harman and on another leading member of the NCCL – Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
. They successfully argued that there had been an infringement of their rights because MI5 was not a legally constituted and democratically accountable organisation, this being the minimum standard in democracy. The success of the case led to enactment of the Security Service Act 1989.
Member of Parliament
In the by-election held on 28 October 1982, she was elected Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Peckham
Peckham (UK Parliament constituency)
Peckham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
with a majority of 3,931 votes.
Harman is a committed feminist, having said, "I am in the Labour Party because I am a feminist. I am in the Labour Party because I believe in equality." Because of her unabashed feminism, her detractors have given her the nickname 'Harriet Harperson' and have referred to her as the 'patron saint of equality'.
Opposition frontbench (1984–97)
In 1984, Harman became a Shadow Social Services minister and served as a Shadow Health minister in 1987. After the 1992 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
she entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the third most senior ministerial position in HM Treasury, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer . In recent years, the office holder has usually been given a junior position in the British Cabinet...
(1992–1994) and later served as Shadow Employment Secretary (1994–1995), Shadow Health Secretary (1995–1996) and Shadow Social Security Secretary (1996–1997).
In government
After Labour's victory in the 1997 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, she became Secretary of State for Social Security and was given the task of reforming the Welfare State. During this time, her more notable policies included introducing a minimum income guarantee and winter fuel payments for the elderly. It was later ruled that the fuel payments policy breached European sex discrimination laws in that men had to wait five years longer to receive them than women. The policy was amended so both sexes qualified at age 60. Harman was sacked from the position in 1998. According to many in the media, this was the result of a series of public rows with junior minister Frank Field
Frank Field (UK politician)
Frank Ernest Field DL is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead since 1979. From 1997 to 1998, he served as the Minister of Welfare Reform, before leaving the Government, following differences with Prime Minister Tony Blair...
, though others also cited her decision to cut benefits to lone parents as a factor.
Harman made a return to the front bench after the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, with her appointment to the office of Solicitor General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
, thus becoming the first female Solicitor General. In accordance with convention, she was appointed as Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
, although she was never a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, had no rights of audience in the higher courts, did not obtain them and never presented a case during her time as Solicitor General, or at all.
After the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, she became a Minister of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs
Department for Constitutional Affairs
The Department for Constitutional Affairs was a United Kingdom government department. Its creation was announced on 12 June 2003 with the intention of replacing the Lord Chancellor's Department...
with responsibilities including constitutional reform, legal aid and court processes and she represented Lord Falconer in the House of Commons on the frontbench.
On 16 March 2006, Harman relinquished her ministerial responsibilities for electoral administration and reform of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. She stated that this was to avoid any potential conflict of interest after her husband Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey MP is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2010...
, the Treasurer of the Labour Party, announced that he would be investigating a number of loans made to the Labour Party that had not been disclosed to party officers. She retained her other responsibilities.
Return to cabinet
Harman is known as a long term supporter of Gordon BrownGordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
and is regarded as a personal friend. On 28 June 2007, after she became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Brown became leader and was appointed Prime Minister, Harman joined Brown's Cabinet
Brown Ministry
Gordon Brown took office as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 and formed his Government. It ended, upon his resignation, on 11 May 2010. In his inaugural cabinet Brown appointed the UKs first female Home Secretary Jacqui Smith....
as Leader of the House of Commons
Leader of the House of Commons
The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons...
, Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...
and Minister for Women and Equality
Minister for Women and Equality
The post of Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom with responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality.-History:...
, and was also given the title of Labour Party Chair. Unlike the previous Deputy Leader, John Prescott, Harman was not given the title of 'Deputy Prime Minister'.
When Harman, as Leader of the House of Commons, stood in for Gordon Brown during Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
on Wednesday 2 April 2007 (due to the Prime Minister attending a NATO summit in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
), she became the first female Labour Minister to take Prime Minister's Questions. She subsequently repeated this during Brown's absences.
Harman attacked the Conservative Party at the Labour Party Conference 2007, referring to them as the "nasty party" and suggesting that there would be little competition at the next election.
On 1 April 2008 the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
reported that Harman had decided to wear a kevlar
Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
-reinforced stab vest
Stab vest
A stab vest, or stab proof vest is a reinforced piece of body armor, worn under or over other items of clothing, which is designed to resist knife attacks to the chest, back and sides...
while touring her Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
constituency under police guard. On 2 April The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
relayed information from the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
that "the type of Met Vest she wore over her jacket protected her from knife attacks and bullets, and, for her at least, was optional". Harman compared the decision to wearing a hard hat
Hard hat
A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments, such as construction sites, to protect the head from injury by falling objects, impact with other objects, debris, bad weather and electric shock. Inside the helmet is a suspension that spreads the helmet's weight over the...
while touring a building site, which led the BBC's John Humphrys
John Humphrys
Desmond John Humphrys , is a Welsh-born British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards...
to respond, during an interview for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, "You wear a hard hat on a building site because... there is the danger that something might drop on your head. You don't need to wear a bullet-proof vest on the streets of London, do you!" Harman told the BBC that the neighbourhood police team she was with put on their stab vests and gave her one to wear as well.
In April 2008, Harman's blog was "hacked" and changed to state that she had joined the Conservative Party. Harman later admitted when questioned by Sky News that the incident was a result of her using "Harriet" and "Harman" as her username and password.
Return to opposition
Following the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party on 11 May 2010, Harman automatically became the temporary leader of the party as well as the Leader of the Opposition, entitling her to the salary and government car that come with the role. Although she was acting Leader, she was fully Leader by the terms of the party's constitution, albeit on a temporary basis, as was the case with Margaret BeckettMargaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
in 1994.
After Brown's resignation, she quickly announced that she would remain Deputy Leader rather than standing for election as Leader
Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2010
The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by a general election which resulted in a hung parliament. On 10 May, Gordon Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party. The following day, he stepped down as Prime Minister....
. Her only public explanation was the assertion that: “You can’t run for leader at the same time as being deputy leader”.
She nominated Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...
, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, to prevent the election from being all male. But she nonetheless asserted her intention to remain neutral throughout the contest and said, "This is a very crucial period and we have got five fantastic candidates. All of them would make excellent leaders of the party."
Following Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
's election as leader, she returned to her role as Deputy Leader. When Miliband assigned portfolios on 8 October 2010, he appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.
In 2010, Harman controversially referred to Danny Alexander
Danny Alexander
Daniel Grian Alexander is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been Chief Secretary to the Treasury since 2010. He has been the Member of Parliament for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency since 2005....
as a "ginger rodent" in a speech to the Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
conference which was greeted with cheers and laughter from the conference, however the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
and the SNP
SNP
-Companies:* Standard & Poor's, a financial ratings company* Sinopec's , New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol-Science:* Single-nucleotide polymorphism, a DNA sequence variation...
referred to those remarks as gingerism and "anti-Scottish". Harman apologized for the offence caused.
In 2011, Harman was moved to become Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport due to her good perfomance over the phone hacking scandal and her several attacks to the David Cameron's association with Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson
Andrew Edward Coulson is an English journalist and political strategist.Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking.He subsequently joined David Cameron's...
.
Equality Bill
As part of a proposed Equality BillEquality Bill
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom.The primary purpose of the Act is to consolidate the complicated and numerous array of Acts and Regulations, which formed the basis of anti-discrimination law in Great Britain...
, Harman announced a consultation on changing the existing discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
laws, which included options for Reverse discrimination
Reverse discrimination
Reverse discrimination is a controversial term referring to discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, including the city or state, or in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group such as African Americans being slaves. Groups may be defined in terms of...
in employment. Under the proposals, employers would be legally allowed to discriminate in favour of a job candidate on the basis of their race or gender where the candidates were otherwise equally qualified. Employers would not be required to use these powers, but would be able to do so without the threat of legal action for discriminatory practices. Harman has stated that this proposal would not simply involve discrimination against white males, and that men will benefit in some circumstances; for example if a school wanted to balance a predominantly female workforce by discriminating in favour of employing a male teacher. The white paper also proposed measures to end age discrimination, promote transparency in organisations and introduce a new equality duty on the public sector. These changes, if made, could face a challenge under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, colour, language, religion and on several other criteria. Michael Millar, writing in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
was of the opinion that, "The Equality Bill before parliament today gives employers the right to choose an ethnic minority candidate or female candidate over a white male, specifically because they are an ethnic minority or female." Some commentators, however, such as Graham Kirby, writing for the blogging site The Samosa, have defended the act as essentially meritocratic and necessary.
Harman also commissioned a report on allowing political parties to draw up all-black shortlists designed to increase the number of black MPs in Westminster. A further report proposed extended the arrangement allowing all-women shortlists
All-women shortlists
The use of all-women shortlists is the political practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom by allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political party. Though the practice is available to all parties, only...
beyond 2015 which will fail to have any impact in the 2010 general election. These proposals are supported by members of the three major parties, though no others allow discrimination in their shortlists. Inside the Labour Party, Harman has said she does "not agree with all-male leaderships" because men "cannot be left to run things on their own"; and that, consequently, one of Labour's top two posts should always be held by a woman.
She has backed plans for an increase in the number of homosexual MPs, and suggested that 39 openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
MPs should be in the current Parliament. The target is based on an official estimate that six per cent of Britain is homosexual; however, such targets have been criticised for failing to take account of gay MPs who prefer to keep their sexuality private
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
.
Voting record
Harman has supported the Labour government and voted with the party in all but a few instances. She supported the Iraq War, although during the Deputy Leadership campaign, she said that she would not have voted for it had she been in full possession of the facts, specifically about the lack of concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction. When asked by Jeremy PaxmanJeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman is a British journalist, author and television presenter. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians...
if the Labour Party should say sorry for what happened, Jon Cruddas
Jon Cruddas
Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham. He was first elected in 2001 to the seat of Dagenham....
said that it should and Harman replied that she agreed with his statement. Later Harman appeared to backtrack on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Today Programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
and asked for evidence to be provided of where she had stated that the party should apologise.
Fathers and families
Erin PizzeyErin Pizzey
Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey is a British family care activist and a best-selling novelist. She became internationally famous for having started one of the first Women's refuges in the modern world, Chiswick Women's Aid, in 1971, the organisation known today as Refuge...
criticised the views expressed by Harman and her co-authors in the 1990 IPPR
Institute for Public Policy Research
The IPPR is the leading progressive think-tank in the UK. It produces research and policy ideas committed to upholding values of social justice, democratic reform and environmental sustainability. IPPR is based in London and IPPR North has branches in Newcastle and Manchester.It was founded in...
report "The Family Way". Writing in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, Pizzey claimed the report was a "staggering attack on men and their role in modern life" as a result of its stating, "it cannot be assumed that men are bound to be an asset to family life or that the presence of fathers in families is necessarily a means to social cohesion".
In May 2008 an interview she gave to think tank Civitas Harman stated that there was "no ideal type of household in which to bring up children".
In June 2008, two members of Fathers 4 Justice
Fathers 4 Justice
Fathers 4 Justice began as a fathers’ rights organisation in the United Kingdom. It became prominent and frequently discussed in the media following a series of high-visibility stunts and protests often in costume. It was temporarily disbanded in January 2006, following allegations of a plot by...
staged a protest on the roof of her house in Herne Hill
Herne Hill
Herne Hill is located in the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London. There is a road of the same name which continues the A215 north of Norwood Road and was called Herne Hill Road.-History:...
, south east London, they had a banner that read: "A father is for life not just conception." After they climbed back off the roof they were arrested by the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
and bailed until 16 July 2008. On the morning of 9 July 2008, fathers for justice again climbed on Harman's roof with a banner that read, "Stop war on dads." One of the complaints of the protesters was that Harman had refused their requests for a meeting yet she denied that they had even requested such a meeting.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Harman announced her intention to stand for Deputy Leadership of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK) deputy leadership election, 2007
The 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election was a British political party election for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. John Prescott, the previous deputy leader, announced on 10 May 2007 that he was standing down from that position and that he would be leaving as deputy...
when John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
stood down. On 27 November 2006 Patrick Wintour reported that she had commissioned an opinion poll that had found that she would be more popular with the electorate than any of the other likely candidates. She used this point to argue that she should become the next Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a senior member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who may appoint to other offices...
in an interview with the BBC.
Harman did not have the support of any major unions, and helped to fund her campaign for deputy leadership by taking out a personal loan of £10,000 and a £40,000 extension to her mortgage. Harman failed to report some donations and loans on time, and was subject to an Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
inquiry for breaches of electoral law. The commission said that her "failure to report on time is a serious matter" though the case was not handed over to the police.
On 24 June 2007, in what was a close contest Harman was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...
had led in all but the first of the previous rounds, but when second-preference votes had been redistributed after the fourth round, Harman stood elected with 50.43% of the vote to Johnson's 49.56%
Campaign donations
In November 2007, it emerged that property developer David Abrahams' secretary Janet Kidd had donated £5,000 to Harman's successful deputy leadership bid. After an investigation by The Mail on SundayThe Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
newspaper into other donations made by people associated with Abrahams, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's assertion that all such monies would be returned, Harman issued a statement saying she accepted the donation on 4 July "in good faith," had registered the monies with the Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
and the Register of Members' Interests, and that she "was not aware of any funding arrangements... between David Abrahams and Janet Kidd".
Loyalty
In November 2010, The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported that at the end of 2009 Harman had hosted a new year's house party at her second home in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
with guests including Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
, at "least one other minister" and another MP. It reported that she told guests that Gordon Brown was "hopeless" and that there were at least five members of the Cabinet who would tell Gordon Brown that he should resign. After the Christmas recess, Hewitt and Geoff Hoon
Geoff Hoon
Geoffrey "Geoff" William Hoon is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Ashfield from 1992 to 2010...
wrote an open letter calling for a leadership election. This failed to get support from any serving minister, including Harman, and no election occurred, leading to the accusation that "Harriet bottled it".
MPs' expenses
In January 2009, Harman proposed a rule change to exempt MPs' expenses from the Freedom of Information Act. Her parliamentary order aimed to remove "most expenditure information held by either House of Parliament from the scope of the Freedom of Information Act". It meant that, under the law, journalists and members of the public would no longer be entitled to learn details of their MP's expenses. Labour MPs were to be pressured to vote for this measure by use of a three line whip. Her proposal was withdrawn when the Conservative Party said they would vote against, and an online campaign by mySocietyMySociety
mySociety is an e-democracy project of the UK-based registered charity named UK Citizens Online Democracy, that aims to build "socially focussed tools with offline impacts". It was founded by Tom Steinberg in September 2003, and started activity after receiving a £250,000 grant in September 2004...
. The failure of the motion led to the disclosure of expenses of British Members of Parliament.
In December 2010 it emerged that Harman was amongst 40 MPs who had secretly repaid wrongly claimed expenses between 2008 and 2010. Her case related to misusing Commons stationery for writing to non-constituents and she repaid £13.20. In November 2010 Harman's parliamentary private secretary Ian Lavery
Ian Lavery
Ian Lavery is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Wansbeck since the 2010 general election. He was previously the President of the National Union of Mineworkers.-Early life:...
had blocked a motion designed to allow the repayments to be made public.
Use of statistics
During the recession of the late 2000s, and following a government report which suggested that women were twice as likely to lose their jobs as men and feared losing their jobs more than men, Harman stated: "We will not allow women to become the victims of this recession". However, some statistics contradicted her position, including the Office for National Statistics report on the issue which stated "the economic downturn in 2008 has impacted less on women in employment than men". According to the ONS, men were losing their jobs at twice the rate of women. The Government Equalities Office insisted the ONS figures did not render pointless its efforts to help women.In June 2009, Sir Michael Scholar
Michael Scholar
Sir Michael Charles Scholar KCB is President of St John's College, Oxford. He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School, St John's College, Cambridge...
, head of the UK Statistics Authority
UK Statistics Authority
The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm's length from Government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament...
, wrote to Harman to warn her that different headline figures used by the ONS and Government Equalities Office with regards to pay differentiation between men and women might undermine public trust in official statistics. The GEO's headline figure was 23%, which was based on median hourly earnings of all employees, not the 12.8%, based on median hourly earnings of full-time employees only, used by the ONS. Scholar wrote: "It is the Statistics Authority’s view that use of the 23% on its own, without qualification, risks giving a misleading quantification of the gender pay gap". The Equalities Office rejected his criticism, saying: "With women representing over three-quarters of the part-time workforce, we believe this figure gives the fullest picture of the country's gender pay gap."
Personal life
Harman married Jack DromeyJack Dromey
Jack Dromey MP is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2010...
in 1982 in Brent
London Borough of Brent
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 2,022. This rose slowly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 5,646 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth increased...
, London, after meeting him on the picket line of the Grunwick dispute
Grunwick dispute
The Grunwick dispute was an industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London which led to a two-year strike between 1976–1978...
in 1977; she was legal advisor to the Grunwick Strike Committee. They have two sons (born February 1983 and November 1984) and a daughter (born January 1987), with the latter having the surname "Harman". Labour colleague Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
is godmother to one of her children. She has a house in Suffolk, in addition to her home in Herne Hill, South London.
In 1996, Harman sent her younger son Joseph to St Olave's Grammar School
St Olave's Grammar School
St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School is a super-selective boys' secondary school in Orpington, Greater London, England. The school is consistently one of the top achieving state schools in the UK and it was The Sunday Times State School of the Year in 2008...
, Orpington
Orpington
Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
after sending her elder son Harry to the London Oratory School
London Oratory School
The London Oratory School is a Catholic secondary comprehensive school in Fulham, London. The Headmaster is David McFadden. It has around 1,365 pupils. It is not to be confused with The Oratory School, a Catholic boarding school...
, a grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...
. Harman said: "This is a state school that other children in my son's class will be going to... And admission is open to every child in Southwark irrespective of money or who their parents are".
Motoring convictions
In 2003, Harman was fined £400 and banned from driving for seven days after being convicted of driving at 99 mi/h on a motorway, 29 mi/h above the speed limitSpeed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...
.
In 2007, Harman was issued with a £60 fixed penalty notice
Fixed Penalty Notice
Fixed penalty notices were introduced in Britain in the 1950s to deal with minor parking offences. Originally used by police and traffic wardens, their use has extended to other public officials and authorities, as has the range of offences for which they can be used.In recent years, this has...
and given three penalty points on her licence for driving at 50 mi/h in a temporary 40 mi/h zone. Harman paid the fine several months late and avoided appearing at Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
magistrates court. Harman was again caught breaking the speed limit the following April, this time in a 30 mph zone, receiving a further 3 points on her driving licence.
In January 2010, Harman pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention
Driving without due care and attention
Driving without due care and attention or careless driving is a moving traffic violation. As a legal term, it is used within the United States and the United Kingdom. It is usually a less serious offence than reckless driving in the United States, and is a less serious offence than dangerous...
in relation to an incident on 3 July where she struck another vehicle whilst driving using a mobile phone
Mobile phones and driving safety
Mobile phone use while driving is common, but dangerous. Due to the number of accidents that are related to cell phone use while driving, some jurisdictions have made the use of a cell phone while driving illegal. Others have enacted laws to ban handheld mobile phone use, but allow use of a...
, she admitted the offence in court becoming the first serving Cabinet minister in memory to plead guilty to a criminal offence. Harman was fined £350, ordered to pay £70 costs, a £15 victim surcharge and had three points added to her licence. Road safety organisations such as Brake
Brake (charity)
Brake is a British national road safety charity. It is based in Huddersfield.-History:Brake was formed in 1995 by Mary Williams, following the death of her mother Sue Williams in 1992. Sue Williams was killed when her stationary car was hit by a 38 ton tanker with faulty brakes...
condemned the leniency of the punishment and decision to drop the charge of driving whilst using a mobile phone. The judge defended the decision stating "Ms Harman’s guilty plea to driving without due care and attention included her admitting that she had been using a mobile phone at the time".
Styles
- Harriet Harman (1950–1982)
- Harriet Harman MP (1982–1997)
- The Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman MP (1997–2005)
- The Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman QC MP (2005–)
See also
- Shadow Cabinet of Ed MilibandShadow Cabinet of Ed MilibandEd Miliband became Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition upon being elected to the former post on 25 September 2010. The election was triggered by Gordon Brown's resignation following the party's fall from power at the 2010 general election, which yielded a Conservative – Liberal...
- Shadow Cabinet of Harriet HarmanShadow Cabinet of Harriet HarmanHarriet Harman led the Shadow Cabinet during her time as pro tempore Leader of the Labour Party in 2010—from the time Gordon Brown resigned as Leader until Ed Miliband was elected to the leadership....
- Shadow Cabinet of Tony BlairShadow Cabinet of Tony BlairTony Blair, as Leader of the Labour Party, was Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom from his election as Leader on 21 July 1994 until he became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997...
- Shadow Cabinet of John SmithShadow Cabinet of John SmithJohn Smith was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Official Opposition from 18 July 1992 until his death on 12 May 1994. Smith became leader upon succeeding Neil Kinnock, who had resigned following the 1992 general election—for the fourth successive time, the Conservatives had won and...
- Shadow Cabinet elections: 1992Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1992Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in July 1992. Shadow Cabinet elections generally take place at the beginning of a parliamentary session, but the 1992 vote was postponed until a new leader was elected to replace Neil Kinnock...
, 1993Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1993Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in October 1993, at the beginning of the 1993/4 session of parliament. Under the rules then in effect, the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 18 members of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, who were then assigned...
, 1994Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1994Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in October 1994, at the beginning of the 1994/5 session of parliament. Under the rules then in effect, the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 18 members of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, who were then assigned...
, 1995Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1995Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in October 1995, at the beginning of the 1995/6 session of parliament. Under the rules then in effect, the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 19 members of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, who were then assigned...
, and 1996Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 1996Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet took place in July 1996. Under the rules then in effect, the Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 19 members of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, who were then assigned portfolios by the leader. The Labour peers elected the...
Publications
- Sex Discrimination in Schools: How to Fight it by Harriet Harman, 1978, Civil Liberties Trust ISBN 0-901108-73-1
- Justice Deserted: Subversion of the Jury by Harriet Harman et al., 1979, Civil Liberties Trust ISBN 0-901108-79-0
- Violence Against Social Workers: The Implications for Practice by Dan Norris, foreword by Harriet Harman, Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN 1-85302-041-9
- The Family Way: A New Approach to Policy Making by Harriet Harman et al., 1990, Institute for Public Policy Research ISBN 1-872452-15-9
- The Century Gap: 20th Century Man/21st Century Woman by Harriet Harman, 1993, Vermilion ISBN 0-09-177819-0
- Winning for Women by Harriet Harman and Deborah Mattinson, 2000, Fabian Society ISBN 0-7163-0596-8
- Women with Attitude by Susan Vinnicombe, John Bank, foreword by Harriet Harman, 2002, Routledge ISBN 0-415-28742-1
External links
- Harriet Harman Official constituency website
- Southwark Labour
Video clips
- Harman on Tory 'toff' campaign BBC News, 18 May 2008
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