Harriet Harman Biography Quotes 11 Report mistakes

Overview
Harriet Ruth Harman is a British politician who became one of the most enduring and influential figures in the Labour Party. Born on 30 July 1950 in London, she served as a Member of Parliament from 1982 until 2024 and twice acted as Leader of the Opposition. A pioneering advocate for womens equality, constitutional reform, and modernisation within her party, she worked alongside and, at key moments, stood in for leaders including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband, and later supported Keir Starmer from the backbenches. Across four decades she combined front-line politics with long-term institutional change, becoming the Mother of the House as the longest continuously serving woman MP.

Early life and education
Harman was raised in a professional family with strong traditions in medicine and law, an upbringing that encouraged public service. She was educated at St Pauls Girls School and studied politics at the University of York. Trained as a lawyer, she joined the National Council for Civil Liberties (now Liberty) as a legal officer in the late 1970s, focusing on womens rights and civil liberties. That early experience shaped the causes she would champion throughout her parliamentary career.

Entry into Parliament
Harman was elected MP for Peckham in a 1982 by-election and later represented the reconfigured constituency of Camberwell and Peckham. Building her base in inner South London, she focused on housing, childcare, and anti-poverty initiatives, working closely with local councillors, community groups, and trade unionists. On the national stage she joined Labours frontbench in opposition through the 1980s and early 1990s under Neil Kinnock and John Smith, concentrating on social policy and the pressures facing low-income families.

In government and the equality agenda
When Tony Blair led Labour to victory in 1997, Harman entered government as Secretary of State for Social Security and Minister for Women. Although her tenure in Social Security was short and marked by difficult debates on welfare reform, she maintained a central role in Labours equality agenda. She later returned to senior office, and under Gordon Brown from 2007 she served as Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women and Equality, coordinating the governments legislative programme and driving reforms to strengthen equality law. She was instrumental in advancing the Equality Act 2010, which consolidated and extended anti-discrimination protections. In cabinet and across Parliament she worked closely with allies such as Tessa Jowell while negotiating with counterparts across the aisle, including during periods when David Cameron and Nick Clegg led the government.

Deputy Leader and acting leadership
Elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 2007, Harman served as a bridge between the parliamentary party, the membership, and the wider movement. She twice became acting Leader of the Labour Party and thus Leader of the Opposition: first in 2010 after Gordon Brown stepped down, and again in 2015 following Ed Milibands resignation. In both interims she assembled caretaker frontbenches, managed Prime Ministers Questions, and steered the party through sensitive strategic debates while leadership contests unfolded. Her stewardship in these transitions preserved party stability during turbulent political moments.

Committees, scrutiny, and later career
After 2010 Harman increasingly used Parliaments committee system to pursue institutional change. She chaired cross-party human rights scrutiny in the late 2010s and became Mother of the House after the 2017 general election, a role reflecting her status as the longest-serving woman MP and her commitment to mentoring younger parliamentarians, including many elected through all-women shortlists she helped to embed. In 2022-2023 she chaired the Privileges Committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled the House of Commons over breaches of Covid-19 rules, a high-profile, cross-party process that underscored her reputation for careful, rules-based scrutiny. Under the leaderships of Jeremy Corbyn and then Keir Starmer, she remained a senior voice on equality, standards, and parliamentary reform. She stood down at the 2024 general election after more than four decades at Westminster.

Advocacy and legacy
Harman championed the representation of women at every level of politics, arguing for cultural and procedural change as well as legal reform. She was a leading proponent of all-women shortlists in Labour selections, pressed for transparency on pay and power within public institutions, and advanced policies to support childcare and parental rights. Her work helped normalise womens leadership across parties and brought equality issues from the margins into the mainstream of legislation and party strategy. She also became a prominent defender of parliamentary standards, insisting that accountability and the rule of law protect both the public and elected representatives.

Personal life
Harriet Harman married Jack Dromey, a well-known trade union leader who later became Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington. Their partnership linked parliamentary politics to the trade union movement and produced a family life interwoven with public service; they had three children. Dromeys sudden death in 2022 was widely mourned across parties, reflecting his stature and the couples long shared contribution to Labour politics.

Assessment
Over a career spanning from the early 1980s to 2024, Harman became a symbol of continuity and change: a steadfast constituency MP, a cabinet minister trusted by Gordon Brown, a deputy leader capable of guiding the party between eras, and a parliamentarian whose committee work shaped standards and rights. Working with colleagues from Tony Blair and Ed Miliband to Keir Starmer, and engaging adversaries such as David Cameron in opposition, she left Parliament with a record that combines legislative achievement with an enduring transformation of opportunities for women in British public life.

Our collection contains 11 quotes who is written by Harriet, under the main topics: Never Give Up - Leadership - Parenting - Equality - Team Building.

Other people realated to Harriet: Patricia Hewitt (Politician), Peter Hain (Politician)