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 Chair 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 Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2011 and then Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 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.
Early life and career Harriet Ruth Harman was born in London and was privately educated at St Paul's Girls' School. She is one of the four daughters of John B. Harman, a Harley Street doctor, and his wife Anna , a barrister, who gave up practising when she had children and who was the Liberal Party candidate for Hertford in the 1964 general election.
Both of Harman's parents had non-conformist backgrounds – her paternal grandfather Nathaniel Bishop Harman, an ophthalmic surgeon, was a prominent UnitarianObituary, The Times, 8 December 1945. and the Spicer family were well-known Congregationalists. Her paternal aunt was Elizabeth 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, graduating in 1972. 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 volunteered at the Fulham Legal Advice Centre. She worked for Brent Law Centre in London from 1974.
Between 1978 and 1982, Harman was employed as a legal officer for the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL). 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 in HM Hull Prison, in a civil action 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 parliamentary questions and debates shortly before she was elected as an MP, including at a Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ) in February 1982. Harman appealed the action at the Court of Appeal, but this was rejected. She subsequently took the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, successfully arguing that 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 the British domestic intelligence agency 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.Machon, Annie. Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers: MI5, MI6 and the Shayler Affair, Book Guild, May 2005, (hbk); The Guardian, 21 February 1985; 20/20 Vision (Channel 4, 1985). 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.
While working for the NCCL, Harman also wrote the pamphlet Sex Discrimination in School: How to fight it (1979).
Opposition Member of Parliament
1982 by-election Harry Lamborn, the Labour Member of Parliament for Peckham, died on 21 August 1982. Harman contested for the vacant seat at the subsequent by-election, while five months pregnant. 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.Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979–83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Harman was one of the 11 women Labour MPs in Parliament after her election and has said of her entry to Parliament that "I was 32 when the average age of MPs was towards the 60s, and I was pregnant as well. I was a fish out of water."
1983 general election Harman was re-elected for Peckham at the 1983 general election, improving her majority to +2.9%. In 1984, Harman became a Shadow Social Services minister, then served as a Shadow Health minister in 1987. 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.The Times, 27 December 1988, ITN News Summary, 26 December 1988
In 1990, Harman, Anna Coote and Patricia Hewitt released the publication The Family Way: A New Approach to Policy-Making with think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research.
1992 general election Following re-election for Peckham at the 1992 general election, Harman 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 At the 1997 general election, the constituency of Peckham was abolished and was replaced by the new constituency of Camberwell and Peckham. Harman was elected as MP for the new constituency and, following Labour's landslide general election victory, she was appointed to Blair's cabinet as Secretary of State for Social Security and the first ever Minister for Women. She campaigned for the passing of Human Rights Act 1998, which enshrined the European Convention on Human Rights in British domestic legislation.
In 2000, Harman and Deborah Mattinson published the pamphlet Winning for Women with the Fabian Society. The pamphlet outlined a 15-point action plan for Labour to make itself "the natural choice for women voters", with policies including increased maternity pay and leave and help with childcare.
Under Blair, Harman 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 also announced a review of pension provision, with the aim of helping low-paid workers and women, and campaigned for improvements for childcare, family-friendly working hours and for changes to the Labour party rule book.
Harman 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.Profile: Harriet Harman The Times, 22 February 2009 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 a practicing Queen's Counsel (QC), 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.