Harman: Men should be blamed for the downturn
LABOUR’S deputy leader Harriet Harman sparked a storm yesterday, when she said men were to blame for the financial crisis.
Harman, who is in charge at Downing Street while Prime Minister Gordon Brown takes his annual holiday, said a higher preponderance of male bankers was responsible for the downturn.
She made the comments after sparking controversy over the weekend, when she said a woman should hold of one Labour’s top jobs, as men “cannot be left to run things on their own”, a view that earnt derision from some in the party, including former deputy leader John Prescott.
Yesterday Harman said she was defending her views on equality and repeated a call to increase the number of women in bank boardrooms.
“Somebody did say… that if it had been Lehman sisters rather than Lehman Brothers then there may not have been as much of a downturn,” Harman said when pressed on her opinions.