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The Right HonourableThe Baroness HarmanPC KC
Official portrait, 2020
Leader of the Opposition
In office 8 May 2015 – 12 September 2015
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Ed Miliband
Succeeded by	Jeremy Corbyn
In office 11 May 2010 – 25 September 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	David Cameron
Succeeded by	Ed Miliband
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
In office 24 June 2007 – 12 September 2015
Leader	Gordon Brown Ed Miliband
Preceded by	John Prescott
Succeeded by	Tom Watson
Leader of the House of Commons Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jack Straw
Succeeded by	George Young
Secretary of State for Social Security
In office 3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Peter Lilley
Succeeded by	Alistair Darling
Junior ministerial offices Minister for Women and Equality In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by Ruth Kelly Succeeded by Theresa May In office 3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Office established Succeeded by The Baroness Jay of Paddington Minister of State for Justice In office 10 May 2005 – 28 June 2007 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Office established Succeeded by Michael Wills Solicitor General for England and Wales In office 11 June 2001 – 10 May 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Ross Cranston Succeeded by Mike O'Brien
Further offices held Shadow cabinet portfolios 2010-2015 Deputy Prime Minister 2011–2015 Culture, Media and Sport 2007–2015 Party Chair 2010–2011 International Development 1996–1997 Social Security 1995–1996 Health 1994–1995 Employment 1992–1994 Chief Secretary to the Treasury Committee chairmanships 2022–2024 Commons Privileges 2023–2024 Commons Standards 2015–2024 Joint Human Rights
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 August 2024 Life peerage
Member of Parliament for Camberwell and PeckhamPeckham (1982–1997)
In office 28 October 1982 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Harry Lamborn
Succeeded by	Miatta Fahnbulleh
Personal details
Born	Harriet Ruth Harman (1950-07-30) 30 July 1950 (age 74) Marylebone, London, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Jack Dromey ​ ​(m. 1982; died 2022)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	John B. Harman Anna Spicer
Relatives	See list Joseph Chamberlain (great-granduncle) Richard Chamberlain (great-granduncle) Beatrice Chamberlain (first cousin twice removed) Austen Chamberlain (first cousin twice removed) Neville Chamberlain (first cousin twice removed) Ida Chamberlain (first cousin twice removed) Hilda Chamberlain (first cousin twice removed)
Alma mater	Goodricke College, York
Signature
Website	www.harrietharman.org

Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman, PC, KC (born 30 July 1950), is a British politician and solicitor. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for more than 40 years, from 1982 to 2024, making her the second longest-serving female MP in British history after Baroness Beckett. Harman was MP for Camberwell and Peckham from 1997 to 2024 and MP for Peckham from 1982 to 1997. A member of the Labour Party, she was Deputy Labour Leader and Chair of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015, and also briefly served as Leader of the Opposition in 2010 and 2015, after the resignations of Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, respectively. She served in various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions. She has been a member of the House of Lords since 2024. The same year, Harman succeeded Labour Party MP Jess Phillips as co-host of the Sky News podcast Electoral Dysfunction, alongside political editor Beth Rigby and former Scottish Conservatives Leader Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links.

Born in London to a doctor and a barrister, Harman was privately educated at St Paul's Girls' School before going on to study politics at the University of York. After working for Brent Law Centre, she became a legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), a role in which she was found in contempt of court following action pursued by Michael Havers, a former Attorney General. She successfully took a case, Harman v United Kingdom, to the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Havers had breached her right to freedom of expression.

Harman was elected as MP for Peckham at a 1982 by-election. She was made a shadow social services minister in 1984 and a shadow health minister in 1987. Under John Smith, she was Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and, under Tony Blair, as Shadow Employment Secretary, Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Social Security Secretary respectively. Following the 1997 general election victory, she was appointed Secretary of State for Social Security and the first ever Minister for Women, until 1998 when she left the Cabinet. In 2001, she was appointed Solicitor General for England and Wales, until 2005 when she became Minister of State for Constitutional Affairs. She ran in the 2007 deputy leadership election and defeated five other candidates, ultimately defeating health secretary Alan Johnson, by a narrow margin. Gordon Brown, who was elected as party leader, appointed her Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal, Minister for Women and Equality and Chairman of the Labour Party.

Upon defeat at the 2010 general election, Brown resigned as party leader and Harman, as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, became the acting leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition until the election of Ed Miliband. She subsequently served as Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, combining the position with that of Shadow International Development Secretary from 2010 to 2011 and then Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary from 2011 to 2015. In 2014, Harman expressed regret after it was revealed that the Paedophile Information Exchange had affiliated status within the NCCL while she had been legal officer. Following Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election, Miliband resigned as Leader of the Labour Party and Harman again became acting party leader and Leader of the Opposition. She also resigned as deputy leader, prompting a concurrent deputy leadership election. Harman stood down as an MP at the 2024 general election and was appointed to the House of Lords later that year.

Early life and career

Harriet Ruth Harman was born at 108 Harley Street in London, and privately educated at St Paul's Girls' School. She is a daughter of John Bishop Harman, a Harley Street doctor, and his wife Anna née Spicer, a barrister, who gave up practising when she had children and who was the Liberal Party candidate for Hertford in the 1964 general election. They both had non-conformist backgrounds – Harman's paternal grandfather Nathaniel Bishop Harman, an ophthalmic surgeon, was a prominent Unitarian and the Spicer family were well-known Congregationalists. Her paternal aunt was Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford (née Harman), the wife of former Labour minister Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, and her cousins include the writers Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford. Her great-grandfather was Arthur Chamberlain, an industrialist. Harman is a great-great-niece of the Liberal statesman Joseph Chamberlain, and is a cousin once removed of former prime minister Neville Chamberlain and former Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain. She is also related to Liberal politician Richard Chamberlain, MP. Through her uncle Lord Pakenham she is related by marriage to former prime minister David Cameron, whom she faced as Leader of the Opposition. Her cousin Rachel Billington is also godmother to former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Harman gained a 2:1 BA in Politics from the University of York. During her time at York, she was a member of Goodricke College and was involved with student politics. After York, Harman went on to qualify as a solicitor and worked for Brent Law Centre in London. Between 1978 and 1982, she was employed as a legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties. In this capacity, and just before becoming MP for Peckham in a by-election in 1982, she represented a prisoner who was kept in solitary confinement against the Home Office. However, she was found in contempt of court for sharing documents she had read aloud in the courtroom with a journalist. The contempt of court action was pursued by Michael Havers, a former Attorney General for England and Wales. Harman was thus the subject of numerous parliamentary questions and debates before she became an MP, including at a PMQ in February 1982. Harman subsequently took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, successfully arguing Havers had breached her right to freedom of expression. The case is considered a significant case in British public law.

Harman was later involved in a European Court of Human Rights case against MI5. During a 1984 television interview by Cathy Massiter, it was revealed personal files were held by MI5 on Harman and on the (by then former-) General Secretary 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.

Opposition Member of Parliament

Harry Lamborn, the Labour MP for Peckham, died on 21 August 1982. In the subsequent by-election held on 28 October 1982, Harman was elected to succeed Lamborn with 11,349 votes (50.34%), a majority of 3,931 over Social Democratic candidate Dick Taverne, a former Labour MP for Lincoln. The Conservative Party candidate was John Redwood, who came third, and went on to be elected MP for Wokingham in 1987.

In 1984, Harman became a Shadow Social Services minister and served as a Shadow Health minister in 1987. Following the 1992 general election 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).

Labour in Government

Under Tony Blair

Following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election, she became Secretary of State for Social Security and the first ever Minister for Women. She 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. She also headed up New Labour's controversial cut to single parent benefit despite the majority of those affected being women. There was public outcry at this perceived attacked on the living standards of some of the poorest women and children. According to The Independent, a group of women protesters shouted "Labour scum" as the measure was approved in Parliament – albeit with a rebellion of 47 Labour MPs and the abstention of many others. 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 voted with the party on all but a few instances during its period in government.

Harman made a return to the front bench following 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 had previously 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.

Following 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.

Deputy Leadership election

Harman announced her intention to stand for Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party when John Prescott stood down. She commissioned an opinion poll which found that she would be the most electorally popular potential deputy leader, a point she used in her campaign.

While she supported the Iraq War, during the Deputy Leadership campaign, she said that she would not have done so had she known about the lack of concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

Harman did not have the support of any major unions, and helped to fund her campaign 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 a close contest Harman was elected Deputy Leader. 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 as 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 Sunday 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".

Under Gordon Brown

Harman was known as a long-term supporter of Gordon Brown and is regarded as a personal friend. On 28 June 2007, after she became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Brown 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 Chairman of the Labour Party. Unlike the previous Deputy Leader, John Prescott, Harman was not made 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 2008 (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. The hacker was Conservative Kemi Badenoch, who was elected as MP for Saffron Walden in 2017. Badenoch confessed to the hacking in an April 2018 interview with Core Politics and later offered Harman an apology, which she accepted.

Use of statistics

During the late-2000s recession, 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, 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".

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 in light of an online campaign by mySociety. 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. In November 2010, Harman's parliamentary private secretary Ian Lavery had blocked a motion designed to allow the repayments to be made public.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008

Harman allegedly blocked a series of votes to liberalise Britain's abortion laws via the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (now Act). The pro-choice amendments proposed by Diane Abbott MP, Katy Clark MP and John McDonnell MP included NC30 Amendment of the Abortion Act 1967: Application to Northern Ireland. It was reported that the Labour Government at the time asked MPs not to table these pro-choice amendments (and at least until Third Reading) and then allegedly used parliamentary mechanisms in order to prevent a vote accordingly.

Equality Bill

As part of a proposed Equality Bill, Harman announced a consultation on changing the existing discrimination laws, including 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. The white paper also proposed measures to end age discrimination, promote transparency in organisations and introduce a new equality duty on the public sector.

It was argued by critics that these changes 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."

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 had also stated that the collapse of Lehman Brothers might have been averted had it been 'Lehman Sisters'. These comments caused accusations of sexism and "insidious bigotry".

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 informally described in the media as '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 Beckett in 1994.

Following 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, shadowing Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister and with the title of Deputy Leader of the Opposition. When Miliband assigned portfolios on 8 October 2010, he appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. In 2010, Harman referred to Danny Alexander as a "ginger rodent" in a speech to the Labour Party conference. This was greeted with cheers and laughter from the conference, but the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party described them as gingerism and "anti-Scottish". Harman apologised for the offence caused. In 2011, Harman was moved to become Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. In 2014, she accused Nick Clegg of turning into a Tory during Prime Minister's Questions.

Paedophilia support allegations and age of consent scandal

In March 2014, an article from the Daily Mail exposed that a 1979 letter from paedophile group supporter contained Ms Harman's initials. Harman denied allegations that she had supported the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) when the advocacy group was affiliated with Liberty, while she was the pressure group's Legal Officer from 1978 to 1982. Both the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph also claimed that Jack Dromey MP (her partner) and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt had offered support to apologists for the sexual abuse of children while they were working for NCCL. The Guardian also states that in an NCCL briefing note dated 1978, Harman urged amendments to a 1978 Child Protection Bill declaring that "images of children should only be considered pornographic if it could be proven the subject suffered", which Harman says was an argument intended to protect from "unintended consequences" such as parents being prosecuted for taking pictures of their children on the beach or in the bath.

Most of the controversy comes after the NCCL passed motion 39 in support of PIE's rights.

Motion 39 stated:

This AGM reaffirms the right of free discussion and freedom to hold meetings for all organisations and individuals doing so within the law. Accordingly, whilst reaffirming the NCCL policy on the age of consent and the rights of children; particularly the need to protect those of prepubertal age, this AGM condemns the physical and other attacks on those who have discussed or attempted to discuss paedophilia, and reaffirms the NCCL's condemnation of harassment and unlawful attacks on such persons.

In a television interview, Harman said she had "nothing to apologise for," stating: "I very much regret that this vile organisation, PIE, ever existed and that it ever had anything to do with NCCL, but it did not affect my work at NCCL." Harman stated that while she did support the equalisation of the age of consent for gay men she had never campaigned for the age of consent to go below the age of 16 and accused the Daily Mail of trying to make her "guilty by way of association". Ed Miliband backed Harman and stated that she had "huge decency and integrity".

2015 general election

In the 2015 general election, Harman lead the Woman to Woman campaign involved a pink battle bus visiting constituencies. Following the poor election result and Ed Miliband's resignation, Harman again became acting leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition after announcing she would stand down from the role once a leadership election had taken place. While interim leader, she made the decision for Labour to abstain, rather than oppose, the Welfare Reform and Work Bill 2015, leading to 48 Labour MPs defying the whip. Harman also made the decision that Labour would vote for having a European Union membership referendum, reversing Labour's pre-election opposition to an EU referendum. After standing down, she became Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights in October 2015.

As the holder of the record as longest-ever continuously serving female MP in the House of Commons, Harman was dubbed the "Mother of the House" by Prime Minister Theresa May on 13 June 2017.

On 10 September 2019, Harman announced that she would stand to be the next Speaker of the House of Commons following the announcement by the current Speaker John Bercow of his intention to resign on 31 October 2019. She withdrew from the vote after the second ballot, having the lowest votes of all of the surviving candidates.

In December 2021, Harman announced she would be stepping down as an MP at the 2024 general election.

View on S&M

Harman supported an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill 2019 to implement the verdict of R v Brown. R v Brown revisited the conviction of the earlier Operation Spanner, in which five men were convicted of engaging in homosexual sadomasochistic practices with consensual partners. Operation Spanner occurred in the 1980s and had been since criticised for its attitudes towards homosexuality. R v Brown re-affirmed that adults cannot consent to actual bodily harm. The changes would prevent use of the rough sex murder defence, believing people should be prosecuted for murder even if they did not intend to kill their partners.

Harman wrote to the Attorney General to complain about an unduly lenient sentence of a man whose partner died while engaging in erotic strangulation. The sentence had been reduced from seven years to four years eight months in light of the man's guilty plea and self-referral to the police.

Investigation into Boris Johnson

Harman chaired the Privileges Committee of the House of Commons over the investigation into Boris Johnson's breach of lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerning four specific assertions made by the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions about "the legality of activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations", events commonly referred to as Partygate. The investigation is concerned with whether Johnson misled the Commons when he made these statements.

The Committee published their final report on 15 June. Johnson resigned over the investigation after having been sent a draft copy of the committee's report. The Committee had voted on the final report text and unanimously supported it. They concluded that Johnson had deliberately misled the House, a contempt of Parliament. They said that, had he still been an MP, they would have recommended a 90 day suspension. If that had happened, it would have been the second longest suspension since 1949.

The Committee concluded that Johnson's actions were "more serious" because they were committed when he was prime minister. They noted that there was no precedent for a PM being found to have deliberately misled Parliament. The report stated that Johnson tried to "rewrite the meaning" of COVID rules "to fit his own evidence" for example that "a leaving gathering or a gathering to boost morale was a lawful reason to hold a gathering." They concluded he was guilty of further contempts of Parliament and that he breached confidentiality requirements by criticising the Committee's provisional findings when he resigned. They said he was complicit in a "campaign of abuse" against those investigating him.

The Commons debated the report on 19 June 2023. Labour forced a vote and the Commons voted 354 to 7 in support, with a large number of abstentions. This was an absolute majority of the Commons. 118 Conservative MPs, including 15 ministers, voted for the report and 225 abstained. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had earlier said he had other commitments, and did not attend the debate and refused to say how he would have voted.

Peerage

After standing down as an MP, Harman was nominated for a life peerage in the 2024 Dissolution Honours. She was created Baroness Harman, of Peckham in the London Borough of Southwark, on 19 August 2024. In 2025, Harman proposed an amendment to Labour's House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill that would mandate the government to introduce proposals to remove the right for 26 Church of England bishops to sit in the Lords ex officio as Lords Spiritual. This amendment is in line with Labour's manifesto commitment to proceed with wider reforms of the upper chamber.

In popular culture

Harman was portrayed by Deborah Findlay in the 2015 Channel 4 television film Coalition.

Personal life

Harman married Jack Dromey in 1982 in Brent, after meeting him on the picket line of the Grunwick dispute in 1977; she was legal advisor to the Grunwick Strike Committee. They had three children: Harry (born February 1983), Joseph (born November 1984) and Amy (born January 1987). Harry and Amy have Harman's surname. Labour colleague Patricia Hewitt is godmother to one of her children. She sent Harry to the grant-maintained Roman Catholic London Oratory School and Joseph to the state selective St Olave's Grammar School, Orpington.

Harman has owned a number of houses and properties, including her home in Herne Hill, south London and a house in Suffolk.

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." In 2017, her book A Woman's Work was published. It is her personal examination of women's progressive politics over the last thirty years.

In late 1988, Harman was absent from the Commons for some time and on 26 December it was reported that she was suffering pneumonia brought on by psittacosis.

In 2012, Harman was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Southwark.

Motoring convictions

In 2003, Harman was fined £400 and banned from driving for seven days after being convicted of driving at 99 mph (159 km/h) on a motorway, 29 mph (47 km/h) above the speed limit.

In 2007, Harman was issued with a £60 fixed penalty notice and given three penalty points on her licence for driving at 50 mph (80 km/h) in a temporary 40 mph (64 km/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 2009 where she struck another vehicle whilst driving using a mobile phone, she admitted the offence in court. Harman was fined £350, ordered to pay £70 costs, a £15 victim surcharge and had three points added to her licence. Road safety organisation Brake criticised 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".

See also

• Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband
• Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair
• Shadow Cabinet of John Smith
• Shadow Cabinet elections: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996

Notes

1. Women (1997–1998)
2. Constitutional Affairs (2005–2007)
3. Out of office during these dates:
   3 May 2017 – 1 November 2017
   6 November 2019 – 4 March 2020
   21 July 2022 – 23 June 2023

References

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50. Abbott, Diane (23 July 2008). "A right to choose? Not in Northern Ireland". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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63. Prince, Rosa (12 May 2010). "Harriet Harman is acting leader of the Labour Party". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
64. "Abbott will give male rivals a good run, says Harman". BBC. 13 June 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
65. "The Shadow Cabinet". Labour.org.uk. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011."The Rt Hon Harriet Harman". House of Commons Information Office. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011.
66. Sparrow, Andrew (8 October 2010). "Shadow cabinet appointments – as it happened". The Guardian.
67. Deacon, Michael (14 January 2014). "Harriet Harman's big brake". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
68. "Harriet Harman demands apology for Daily Mail's paedophile 'smears'". TheGuardian.com. 25 February 2014.
69. Booth, Robert; Pidd, Helen (26 February 2014). "Lobbying by paedophile campaign revealed". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
70. "How paedophiles infiltrated the left and hijacked the fight for civil rights". TheGuardian.com. 2 March 2014.
71. Smith, Norman (26 February 2014). "Harriet Harman expresses 'regret' after Daily Mail claims". BBC News. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
72. ^ Mason, Rowena. "Harriet Harman rejects allegations of 1970s link to paedophile campaign". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
73. "Labour defends use of pink minibus in women's campaign". BBC News. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
74. "Harriet Harman stepping down as Labour deputy leader". ITV News.
75. Wintour, Patrick (21 July 2015). "Welfare bill: Labour in disarray as 48 MPs defy whips to vote no". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
76. "Labour will back EU referendum – Harriet Harman". BBC News. 24 May 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
77. Kirkup, James (6 June 2016). "David Cameron's deal with Harriet Harman could win the EU referendum – and destroy his leadership". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
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115. Harriet Harman escapes driving ban after using mobile while driving The Times, 9 January 2010

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 and J. A. G. Griffith, 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
• A Woman's Work by Harriet Harman, 2017, Allen Lane ISBN 978-0-241-27494-1

External links

• Harriet Harman Official constituency website
• Southwark Labour Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou

Video clips

• Harman on Tory 'toff' campaign BBC News, 18 May 2008
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Articles related to Harriet Harman

v t e Leaders of Labour Leaders Keir Hardie Arthur Henderson George Barnes Ramsay MacDonald Arthur Henderson William Adamson J. R. Clynes Ramsay MacDonald Arthur Henderson George Lansbury Clement Attlee Herbert Morrison^ Hugh Gaitskell George Brown, Baron George-Brown^ Harold Wilson James Callaghan Michael Foot Neil Kinnock John Smith Margaret Beckett^ Tony Blair Gordon Brown Harriet Harman^ Ed Miliband Harriet Harman^ Jeremy Corbyn Keir Starmer Deputy Leaders Clynes Graham Clement Attlee Greenwood Morrison Griffiths Bevan George Brown Jenkins Short Michael Foot Denis Healey Roy Hattersley Margaret Beckett John Prescott Harriet Harman Watson Angela Rayner General Secretaries MacDonald Henderson Middleton Phillips Williams Barker^ Nicholas Hayward Mortimer Whitty Sawyer McDonagh Triesman Carter Watt Collins McNicol Formby Evans Treasurers Henderson MacDonald Henderson Lathan Greenwood Gaitskell Bevan Nicholas Davies Callaghan Atkinson Varley Booth McCluskie Burlison Prosser Elsby Dromey Holland Leaders in the Lords Haldane Cripps Ponsonby Snell Addison Jowitt Alexander Pakenham Shackleton Shepherd Peart Hughes Richard Jay Williams Amos Ashton Royall Smith of Basildon Scottish Labour Leaders Dewar McLeish Jamieson^ McConnell Jamieson^ Alexander Jamieson^ Gray Lamont Sarwar^ Murphy Gray^ Dugdale Rowley^ Baillie^ Leonard Sarwar PLP Chairs Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Hodge* Wardle* Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Lees-Smith* Pethick-Lawrence* Greenwood* Gaitskell Wilson Houghton Mikardo Hughes Willey Dormand Orme Hoyle Soley Corston Clwyd Lloyd Watts Cryer EPLP Leaders Stewart Prescott Castle Lomas Martin Seal Ford Green David Donnelly Murphy Titley Willmott Corbett v t e Brown Cabinet Cabinet members Gordon Brown Lord Adonis Bob Ainsworth Douglas Alexander Baroness Ashton of Upholland Ed Balls Hilary Benn Hazel Blears Ben Bradshaw Des Browne Liam Byrne Andy Burnham Yvette Cooper Alistair Darling John Denham Peter Hain Harriet Harman Geoff Hoon John Hutton Alan Johnson Tessa Jowell Ruth Kelly Lord Mandelson David Miliband Ed Miliband Jim Murphy Paul Murphy James Purnell Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Jacqui Smith Jack Straw Shaun Woodward Also attended meetings Margaret Beckett Nick Brown Lord Drayson Caroline Flint Lord Grocott John Healey Jim Knight Lord Malloch-Brown Pat McFadden Tony McNulty Baroness Scotland of Asthal Attended while on agenda Beverley Hughes Sadiq Khan Dawn Primarolo Rosie Winterton v t e Miliband Shadow Cabinet Shadow cabinet members Douglas Alexander Ed Balls Lord Bassam of Brighton Hilary Benn Andy Burnham Liam Byrne Vernon Coaker Yvette Cooper Mary Creagh Margaret Curran John Denham Gloria De Piero Michael Dugher Angela Eagle Maria Eagle Caroline Flint Peter Hain Harriet Harman John Healey Meg Hillier Tristram Hunt Alan Johnson Tessa Jowell Sadiq Khan Chris Leslie Ivan Lewis Ann McKechin Ed Miliband Jim Murphy Lucy Powell Rachel Reeves Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Owen Smith Jon Trickett Stephen Twigg Chuka Umunna Tom Watson Shaun Woodward Also attended meetings Lord Bach Jon Cruddas Liz Kendall Emma Reynolds Patricia Scotland Emily Thornberry Lord Wood of Anfield v t e Leaders of the House of Commons Walpole Sandys Pelham Robinson H. Fox Pitt the Elder Vacant (caretaker ministry) Pitt the Elder Grenville H. Fox Grenville Conway North C. Fox Townshend (C. Fox/North) Pitt the Younger Addington Pitt the Younger C. Fox Howick Perceval Castlereagh Canning Huskisson Peel Althorp Peel Russell Disraeli Russell Palmerston Disraeli Palmerston Gladstone Disraeli Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Hicks-Beach Gladstone R. Churchill Smith Balfour Gladstone Harcourt Balfour Campbell-Bannerman Asquith Law A. Chamberlain Law Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin N. Chamberlain W. Churchill Cripps Eden Morrison Chuter Ede Crookshank Butler Macleod Lloyd Bowden Crossman Peart Whitelaw Carr Prior Short Foot St John-Stevas Pym Biffen Wakeham Howe MacGregor Newton Taylor Beckett Cook Reid Hain Hoon Straw Harman Young Lansley Hague Grayling Lidington Leadsom Stride Rees-Mogg Spencer Mordaunt Powell v t e Secretaries of state for work and pensions of the United Kingdom Ministers of Pensions Barnes Hodge Worthington-Evans Macpherson Tryon Roberts Tryon Roberts Tryon Hudson Ramsbotham Womersley Paling Hynd Buchanan Marquand Isaacs Heathcoat-Amory Ministers of Social Insurance/National Insurance Jowitt Hore-Belisha Griffiths Summerskill Peake Ministers of Pensions and National Insurance Peake Boyd-Carpenter Macpherson Wood Herbison Ministers of Social Security Herbison Hart Secretaries of State for Social Services Crossman Joseph Castle Ennals Jenkin Fowler Moore Secretaries of State for Social Security Moore Newton Lilley Harman Darling Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions Darling A. Smith Johnson Blunkett Hutton Hain Purnell Cooper Duncan Smith Crabb Green Gauke McVey Rudd Coffey C. Smith Stride v t e Ministers for women and equalities of the United Kingdom Minister for Women (1997–2007) Harriet Harman The Baroness Jay Patricia Hewitt Tessa Jowell Ruth Kelly Minister for Women and Equality (2007–2010) Harriet Harman Minister for Women and Equalities (2010–2014) Theresa May Maria Miller Minister for Women (2014) Nicky Morgan Minister for Equalities (2014) Sajid Javid Minister for Women and Equalities (2014–2022) Nicky Morgan Justine Greening Amber Rudd Penny Mordaunt Amber Rudd Liz Truss Minister for Equalities (2022) Nadhim Zahawi Minister for Women and Equalities (2022–present) Kemi Badenoch Bridget Phillipson v t e Leaders of the Opposition of the United Kingdom House of Commons Fox Howick Ponsonby Tierney Peel Althorp Peel Russell Peel Russell Bentinck Granby Granby/Herries/Disraeli Disraeli Russell Disraeli Palmerston Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Gladstone Hartington Northcote Gladstone Hicks Beach Gladstone Balfour Harcourt Campbell-Bannerman Balfour 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Chakrabarti Inquiry Leadership Leaders Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Morrison^ Gaitskell Brown^ Wilson Callaghan Foot Kinnock Smith Beckett^ Blair Brown Harman^ Miliband Harman^ Corbyn Starmer Deputy Leaders Clynes Graham Attlee Greenwood Morrison Griffiths Bevan Brown Jenkins Short Foot Healey Hattersley Beckett Prescott Harman Watson Rayner General Secretaries MacDonald Henderson Middleton Phillips Williams Barker^ Nicholas Hayward Mortimer Whitty Sawyer McDonagh Triesman Carter Watt Collins McNicol Formby Evans Treasurers Henderson MacDonald Henderson Lathan Greenwood Gaitskell Bevan Nicholas Davies Callaghan Atkinson Varley Booth McCluskie Burlison Prosser Elsby Dromey Holland Leaders in the Lords Haldane Cripps Ponsonby Snell Addison Jowitt Alexander Pakenham Shackleton Shepherd Peart Hughes Richard Jay Williams Amos Ashton Royall Smith of Basildon Scottish Labour Leaders Dewar McLeish Jamieson^ McConnell Jamieson^ Alexander Jamieson^ Gray Lamont Sarwar^ Murphy Gray^ Dugdale Rowley^ Baillie^ Leonard Baillie^ Sarwar PLP Chairs Hardie Henderson Barnes MacDonald Henderson Hodge* Wardle* Adamson Clynes MacDonald Henderson Lansbury Attlee Lees-Smith* Pethick-Lawrence* Greenwood* Gaitskell Wilson Houghton Mikardo Hughes Willey Dormand Orme Hoyle Soley Corston Clwyd Lloyd Watts Cryer Morden EPLP Leaders Stewart Prescott Castle Lomas Martin Seal Ford Green David Donnelly Murphy Titley Willmott Corbett * = wartime, in opposition ^ Interim/Acting Internal elections and selections Leadership elections 1922 Ramsay MacDonald 1931 Arthur Henderson 1932 George Lansbury 1935 Clement Attlee 1955 Hugh Gaitskell 1960 1961 1963 Harold Wilson 1976 James Callaghan 1980 Michael Foot 1983 Neil Kinnock 1988 1992 John Smith 1994 Tony Blair 2007 Gordon Brown 2010 Ed Miliband 2015 Jeremy Corbyn 2016 2020 Keir Starmer Deputy Leadership elections 1952 Herbert Morrison 1953 1956 Jim Griffiths 1959 Aneurin Bevan 1960 George 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Clement Attlee Elections 2011 local elections 2012 local elections 2013 local elections 2014 local elections 2015 local elections 2015 general election Leadership elections 2010 2015 Related Labour Party leadership of Ed Miliband Labour Party (UK) Category v t e 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election Outgoing Deputy Leader: John Prescott Hilary Benn Hazel Blears Jon Cruddas Peter Hain Harriet Harman Alan Johnson Timeline of the 2007 Labour Party leadership election

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