Harriet Harman

Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015 and Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 2007 to 2010. She also briefly served as Leader of the Opposition in 2010 and 2015 following the resignations of Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband respectively. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham (formerly Peckham) from 1982 to 2024, during which time she held various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions, and was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2024. 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 Commission of Human Rights, where she argued that Havers had breached her right to freedom of expression. The case was settled after the British government agreed to change the law. 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. She was appointed Chair of The Fawcett Society in 2023.