Harriet Harman stopped for speeding at 99mph
By Toby Helm and Andrew Hibberd
(Filed: 09/01/2003)

Harriet Harman, the Solicitor General, was stopped by police for speeding at 99mph on a motorway yesterday.

The MP for Camberwell and Peckham was recorded breaking the limit in a 70mph zone on the M4 in Wiltshire, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office said.

Miss Harman, a QC and the first woman to be appointed Solicitor General, had her 20-year-old son, Harry, in the car when she was stopped. She was taking him back to university in Bristol after the Christmas break.

The spokesman said Miss Harman intended to plead guilty to the charge at the "first available opportunity". She added: "Harriet Harman is very sorry that she exceeded the speed limit.

"She fully recognises that she should have paid more attention to the speed at which she was travelling." No date has been set for a hearing.

A spokesman for Wiltshire police said that Miss Harman was pulled over by a motorway patrol.

He added: "A vehicle was stopped doing excess speed and dealt with accordingly. The weather at the time was cold and clear."

The RAC said: "On a day like that it is surprising to hear that a high-profile MP would be travelling at such speed and taking such a risk."

Government sources said her position as Solicitor General was not under threat.

Miss Harman, 52, was appointed secretary of state for social security and minister for women in Tony Blair's first Cabinet in 1997. But she was eased out of the job the following year. She was appointed to the post of Solicitor General in 2001.