Harman confirms deputy PM ambitions
Harriet Harman wants a woman in the highest ranks of the Labour party
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Friday, 15, Sep 2006 06:30
Harriet Harman has thrown her hat into the deputy leadership ring, saying she wants a woman to participate in the election alongside existing candidates Peter Hain and Alan Johnson.
Ms Harman, who is currently the minister for justice at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), made the announcement on her website this morning.
"After speaking to my local party and fellow MPs, I have decided to stand as Deputy Leader of the Labour party in a future election," Ms Harman said on her website.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said that a desire to ensure that women were represented at the highest level of the Labour party was the main motivation for her decision to stand.
"If we didn't have any women in the contest, it would have sent out completely the wrong message about us and give the idea that when the serious jobs are on offer, you send for the men," Ms Harman said.
"That's not at all the way Labour is and there was no way I was going to let that happen."
Ms Harman said she would support Gordon Brown as the next prime minister, hoping that her demographic appeal as a southerner could help offset those members of the English middle classes put off by the chancellor's dour Scottish image.