Brown needs a woman’s touch

Harriet Harman is the Labour deputy David Cameron fears most, says donald malcolm

As Labour decides who should be the new deputy leader - the leader is a foregone conclusion - one of the questions they have to address is who does David Cameron fear most? The answer is almost certainly Harriet Harman.

David Cameron understands that his party's dire electoral record over the past decade is partly down to its looking so much like a gentlemen's club.

Against Labour's 100 women MPs he boasts a meagre 17 Tory women. The transformation of the Tory image he is seeking includes a - partially successful - drive to get more women selected in winnable seats. It is one of the lessons he has learned from the New Labour handbook of how to win elections.

For most of the last century there was a bias towards the Conservatives amongst women voters. Blair's 1997 landslide was

The Tory leader knows his party’s dire electoral record is down to its looking so much like a gentlemen’s club

thanks in part to Labour shedding its blokeish image and attracting 45 per cent of the female vote.

Their continued success among women is thanks to a relentless concentration of issues which women say are important to them - particularly health, education, crime, and childcare - helped by Blair's image as a family man, and those 100 women MPs.

But alarm bells are ringing at Labour's HQ with polls showing David Cameron could do well against Gordon Brown in appealing to women - especially if he can get more local Tories to choose women candidates.

Harman supporters argue that making a woman part of the leadership team would send a signal that Labour is serious about winning back women who've drifted away from the party. If they don't, there is a danger Cameron will steal a march on Labour by choosing a woman deputy himself.

Though of course, with only 17 female MPs, he doesn't have much of a choice. Caroline Spelman is one name to watch.