James Forsyth James Forsyth

Labour’s lady in waiting

Harriet Harman believes her time is about to come

Harriet Harman’s office reflects her status as the grande dame of British politics. Ensconced in a corner of Portcullis House, she enjoys two of the finest views in London, over both the Palace of Westminster itself and Parliament Square. As she ushers me in, the imposing effect is only spoiled by the fact that the windows are in dire need of cleaning.

As deputy leader, Harman is, officially, the second most important person in the Labour party after Ed Miliband. She has been an MP for 30 years and is married to a unionist-turned-parliamentarian, Jack Dromey. She knows the party like few others on the Labour front bench. Several of her colleagues, including Miliband, have worked as her advisers. Harman, though, is quick to stress that she doesn’t still think of herself as the boss’s boss. ‘I see Ed Miliband as leader of the party, I see Liz Kendall [another one of her former advisers] as doing social care.’ With deliberate understatement, she remarks that ‘it is very different being leader of the Labour party to being my special adviser’.

When I ask Harman if she saw Miliband as a future leader when he was her underling, she pauses before deciding against a direct answer. He was, she says, ‘exceptionally thoughtful, bright and committed: never one of those people to do back-door short cuts. He was always very straightforward. He had good politics.’ But it was all a very long time ago, she says. I can’t discern whether her hesitation is a product of not wanting to say that she marked Miliband out for the purple at first sight or whether he didn’t strike her as a future prime minister at the time.

It would be wrong, though, to imagine that this 62-year-old is preparing to pass the torch to the next generation.

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