Harman is quite right to see this as part of the role of a Leader of the House of Commons, but it doesn't sit especially well with her party role, leaving a further question mark against the wisdom of this particular appointment by Gordon.
The Tories have already taken to calling Harman "Four Hats" on account of her superfluity of titles - Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Party Chair, Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women.
In fact, she has five hats. They are forgetting Lord Privy Seal, a purely ceremonial role but an additional title nonetheless.
4 comments:
Looking forward to receiving the Labour party apology for the Iraq disaster as promised by Harman on Newsnight.
Jim
Dear Paul
Having heard first hand acounts of the Labour Party NEC on Tuesday, I understand the 'Party Chair' appointment is being quietly dropped from use. And the Party vice-chairs - something to do with the PLP - not the Labour Party itself, apparently.
What I wouldn't give to be a Lord Privy Seal - not just your ordinary type of seagoing seal.
It didn't work particularly well when Iain Macleod (a rather more heavyweight politician than Harman) doubled as Party Chair and Leader of the House. The two roles are directly contradictory, when a party chair is a partisan rah-rah merchant, while the Leader of the House is (or is supposed to be) a relatively non-partisan figure. Howe, Biffen, MacGregor and Newton were all good from that point of view (indeed Newton was one of the very few Tories I was unhappy to see lose their seat on May 1st 97).
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