The Hattie Cabinet: Harman 'riding roughshod' over Miliband as she launches women-only frontbench team

Article here. Excerpt:

'Harriet Harman was yesterday accused of 'riding roughshod' over Labour leader Ed Miliband after she launched a new bid to boost the power of women Labour MPs.

Ms Harman, Labour's deputy leader, sparked fury among male party colleagues by announcing that the 11 women in the Shadow Cabinet were holding their own meetings.

They said Ms Harman informed the Labour leader of the plan – already being dubbed 'Harriet's Kitchen Cabinet' – at a full Shadow Cabinet meeting earlier this month.

One witness told The Mail on Sunday that towards the end of the meeting, Ms Harman mentioned that the women members would be meeting on their own. The source added: 'The blokes on the Shadow Cabinet just looked at each other as if to say, what the hell is all this about?

'Harriet then said that as the Tories were now losing the women's vote, it was important that we made sure our policies appeal to female voters.

'But even Ed looked a bit surprised and joked, “When are the men going to meet then?” and when nobody laughed, he said, “Sorry, not a great joke.”'

'But it really is a load of politically correct, feminist claptrap. She's riding roughshod over Ed.'