Harriet Harman’s victory was the result of an impeccably planned operation, says donald malcolm |
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In US politics presidential candidates choose running mates to extend their geographical and social appeal. The choice is entirely in the gift of whoever triumphs at their party convention.
The new Labour leader - and soon to be PM - Gordon Brown wanted a running mate to serve the same purpose - reaching parts of the electorate a male Scot might not. He had to wait and hope that the Labour Party would deliver him the deputy leader he wanted. Although he never went public on the issue, there is no doubt that Justice Minister Harriet Harman was his choice.
And at the special Labour conference in Manchester on Sunday he got his way, Harman narrowly beating Education Secretary Alan Johnston in the last phase of the devil-take-the-hindmost election system.
Brown had needed little persuading that |
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| It is Harman’s ability to get coverage in mags such as Good Housekeeping that make her an electoral asset |
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a balanced top team of a man and a woman was best placed to help win Labour an unprecedented fourth term in Government. That was the message of the opinion polls. Significantly Brown's personal pollster Deborah Mattinson also advised Harman.
Mattinson began work nearly a year ago on what she dubbed 'Project Asparagus' because Harman had just had her recipe for Asparagus Tart published in Good Housekeeping. Harman quickly dumped the asparagus tag - it sounded too middle class although it is her ability to get coverage in magazines like GH that makes the Justice Minister an electoral asset to Labour.
In the run up to the deputy leadership election, Mattinson commissioned two YouGov polls on behalf of the Harman campaign which demonstrated the voter appeal of a Brown-Harman leadership team. The results figured in every piece of campaign literature and every speech by Harman herself. They were the key to her victory. Labour activists who are the sharp end in elections got the message that, teamed with Brown, she  |
