It’s tough being a woman in the Labour party. As well as having little chance of becoming party leader, it seems that those who do get close to power are often not treated with the same courtesy as their male counterparts.
At least that’s what Harriet Harman thinks. Speaking at a Press Gallery lunch to promote her memoir A Woman’s Work, Labour’s former deputy leader recalled the occasions on which she had fallen victim to seemingly sexist behaviour during Gordon Brown’s premiership.
After being elected deputy leader, Harman had thought she would get to sit next to the Prime Minister at Cabinet:
‘You’re elected deputy leader, amazingly — against all the odds and against the runaway favourite. You get to be deputy leader. You go to your first Cabinet leader with your new government chaired by Gordon Brown, you’ve got the Prime Minister here, opposite you’ve got the Chancellor — it’s all very official.
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