Who Is Harriet Harman? Longest Serving UK MP Steps Down After 40 Years In Parliament

Harriet Harman, former Deputy leader of UK's Labour party, announced on Tuesday that she is going to step down at the next election.

The longest serving female MP of the country has been serving in the parliament for almost 40 years.

71-year-old politician in her official resignation letter said, "I feel I can leave the House of Commons now confident that Labour is gaining strength under the leadership of Keir Starmer and the new team he has appointed.
“It has been an overwhelming honour to be member of parliament representing and working for the people of Camberwell and Peckham for nearly 40 years."

Who Is Harriet Harman?

• The politician first got elected as the Labour party Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham in 1982.
• She is called the mother of the house (UK's House of Commons) as she is the longest serving female MP.
• Harman was made the acting Labour party leader in 2015 and before that she was deputy leader since 2007.
• Between 1994 and 2007, under Tony Blair government, Harman was the secretary of state for social security and the first minister for women.
• In her stint at the UK parliament, Harman has seen 10 general elections and has served under seven Prime Ministers. Her party has had 8 leaders in the past 40 years.
• She studied politics at the University of York and was born to a doctor and a barrister.
• When she was working as the legal officer for the National Council of Civil Liberties (NCCL), former Attorney General of Britain pursued a Contempt of Court case against. Harman took the case to Human Rights court and won the case.
• Harman had headed the controversial bill by New Labour which had cut the benefits for single parents. She was fired from the position after public outcry.
• As per reports, she was allegedly involved in blocking the votes for a pro-choice amendment to Britain's abortion laws.
• According to a report by Guardian, Harman's name was mentioned in the controversial March 1976 NCCL press which advocated for the sexual age of consent to be lowered to 14. Harman had denied any association with it.
• When she entered the House of Commons, there were only 11 women MPs in the Labour party with 97 per cent seats filled by men. She said, "Now there are 104 Labour women and across all parties women MPs are a ‘critical mass’."
• But she said there “remains much more to be done till women genuinely share political power with men on equal terms and until women in this country are equal. I will leave the House of Commons with my feminism, my belief in Labour and my enthusiasm for politics undimmed.”

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