Harriet Harman Faces Prosecution

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 172 months ago
Harriet Harman Faces Prosecution

2011_harman.jpg
Photo / Steve Punter
The Deputy Labour party leader Harriet Harman is to be prosecuted for talking on her mobile phone while driving.

The incident happened in Dulwich this past July. Ms Harman is alleged to have been involved in a minor prang in her car, which she was reportedly driving whilst chatting (or, given the July timeline, plotting her boss' demise) into her cellular. She was alleged to have stopped briefly following the accident, but eyewitnesses claim that she drove off without leaving her insurance details; some claim that she offered a hostage to fortune by wheeling down her window and bleating, "I'm Harriet Harman — you know where you can get me!".

We're sure she didn't mean one of Her Majesty's courts, but that's where the Camberwll & Peckham MP could end up. Ms. Harman, who has previously (and unfairly) been criticised for wearing a stab-proof vest while patrolling with coppers round her manor, does have a track record in speeding offences: fancying herself a latter-day Nigella Mansell, she was caught doing 99mph en route to Bristol in 2003, and clocked up another few points on the license in 2005 for doing 50mph in a 40mph zone.

The offences of driving while using a mobile, and "without due care and attention", carry penalties of up to nine license points, and significant fines.

Last Updated 20 November 2009