Harriet Harman

The Right Honourable The Baroness Harman PC 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[a] 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[b] 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[c] 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 Peckham Peckham (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.

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, 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.

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