ianstone
06-03-2010, 09:50 PM
Harriet Harman calls for half of Labour shadow cabinet to be women
By Kirsty Walker (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Kirsty+Walker)
Last updated at 12:14 AM on 4th June 2010
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/03/article-0-09BFF42F000005DC-341_233x380.jpg Gender split: Harriet Harman wants half the shadow cabinet to be women
Harriet Harman yesterday risked a backlash from Labour MPs by demanding that half the Shadow Cabinet is made up of women.
The acting leader said she wanted to change her party's rules for the election of Shadow Cabinet members to ensure a 50-50 split between male and female MPs.
Her controversial proposal last night gained the backing of Labour leadership candidate Ed Miliband, but some female Labour MPs were baulking at the prospect.
Miss Harman, who is known for her outspoken feminist views, told a national conference of Unite union members that it was time that Labour women 'stepped out of the shadows'.
She said there were now 81 women Labour MPs, more than those in all the other parties put together.
'Labour is the only party in Parliament which speaks up for women in this country. We have some excellent experienced women and some brilliant new women MPs,' she told delegates.
'We still do have twice as many men MPs as women. The Labour men are great - but they are not twice as good as the women.'
Miss Harman surprised colleagues by ruling herself out of the Labour leadership race despite her hardline stance on women's rights.
She has also faced accusations of hypocrisy in recent months after her husband Jack Dromey was parachuted into the safe Labour seat of Birmingham Erdington when party officials decided not to impose an all-women shortlist on the constituency.
Members of the Parliamentary Labour Party will elect members of the Shadow Cabinet following the results of the Labour leadership contest in September.
Each members has 19 votes each. But for their ballots to be valid, they must contain votes for at least three women.
The results are then published with the candidates ranked in order of popularity. Once the shadow cabinet is elected, the new Labour leader assigns shadow portfolios and can then add other members.
Labour leadership candidate and shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband told his Twitter followers that he supported Miss Harman's proposal for a 50-50 gender split in the shadow cabinet.
He wrote: 'Very sympathetic to what Harriet has said today on 50 per cent women in Shadow Cabinet. Will ultimately be a PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) decision but I will be supporting it.'
But Labour MP Kate Hoey said that female Labour MPs should be elected to the shadow cabinet on 'merit'.
She said: 'I do not support this idea. People should be elected the shadow cabinet on merit. There are plenty of good Labour women who could be elected without the need to fix the ratio.'
Geraldine Smith, a former Labour MP, added: 'It is true that the Labour leadership candidates all look the same with the exception of Diane Abbott and there are plenty of good and capable women in the Labour party.
'But I am not a fan of quotas and believe that people should be elected on their own merit. The elections to the shadow cabinet are democratic and everyone has to fight for votes.
'If our MPs are so much more enlightened than other parties, then they should be voting for women anyway.'
So far, the only female MP to declare her intention to run for the Labour leadership is the left-wing firebrand Diane Abbott, but she is a long way off securing the 33 nominations from parliamentary colleagues she needs to formally enter the race.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1283721/Harriet-Harman-calls-half-Labour-shadow-cabinet-women.html#ixzz0pqRGnpAL
It would not be so bad if the other half of the politicians had BALLS ?
By Kirsty Walker (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Kirsty+Walker)
Last updated at 12:14 AM on 4th June 2010
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/03/article-0-09BFF42F000005DC-341_233x380.jpg Gender split: Harriet Harman wants half the shadow cabinet to be women
Harriet Harman yesterday risked a backlash from Labour MPs by demanding that half the Shadow Cabinet is made up of women.
The acting leader said she wanted to change her party's rules for the election of Shadow Cabinet members to ensure a 50-50 split between male and female MPs.
Her controversial proposal last night gained the backing of Labour leadership candidate Ed Miliband, but some female Labour MPs were baulking at the prospect.
Miss Harman, who is known for her outspoken feminist views, told a national conference of Unite union members that it was time that Labour women 'stepped out of the shadows'.
She said there were now 81 women Labour MPs, more than those in all the other parties put together.
'Labour is the only party in Parliament which speaks up for women in this country. We have some excellent experienced women and some brilliant new women MPs,' she told delegates.
'We still do have twice as many men MPs as women. The Labour men are great - but they are not twice as good as the women.'
Miss Harman surprised colleagues by ruling herself out of the Labour leadership race despite her hardline stance on women's rights.
She has also faced accusations of hypocrisy in recent months after her husband Jack Dromey was parachuted into the safe Labour seat of Birmingham Erdington when party officials decided not to impose an all-women shortlist on the constituency.
Members of the Parliamentary Labour Party will elect members of the Shadow Cabinet following the results of the Labour leadership contest in September.
Each members has 19 votes each. But for their ballots to be valid, they must contain votes for at least three women.
The results are then published with the candidates ranked in order of popularity. Once the shadow cabinet is elected, the new Labour leader assigns shadow portfolios and can then add other members.
Labour leadership candidate and shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband told his Twitter followers that he supported Miss Harman's proposal for a 50-50 gender split in the shadow cabinet.
He wrote: 'Very sympathetic to what Harriet has said today on 50 per cent women in Shadow Cabinet. Will ultimately be a PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) decision but I will be supporting it.'
But Labour MP Kate Hoey said that female Labour MPs should be elected to the shadow cabinet on 'merit'.
She said: 'I do not support this idea. People should be elected the shadow cabinet on merit. There are plenty of good Labour women who could be elected without the need to fix the ratio.'
Geraldine Smith, a former Labour MP, added: 'It is true that the Labour leadership candidates all look the same with the exception of Diane Abbott and there are plenty of good and capable women in the Labour party.
'But I am not a fan of quotas and believe that people should be elected on their own merit. The elections to the shadow cabinet are democratic and everyone has to fight for votes.
'If our MPs are so much more enlightened than other parties, then they should be voting for women anyway.'
So far, the only female MP to declare her intention to run for the Labour leadership is the left-wing firebrand Diane Abbott, but she is a long way off securing the 33 nominations from parliamentary colleagues she needs to formally enter the race.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1283721/Harriet-Harman-calls-half-Labour-shadow-cabinet-women.html#ixzz0pqRGnpAL
It would not be so bad if the other half of the politicians had BALLS ?