Harriet Harman KC, whose parliamentary career spanned more than four decades, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker at the BMF All Industry Conference 2025, which takes place in Barcelona next June.

Harriet Harman represented the south London constituency of Camberwell and Peckham as a Labour Member of Parliament between 1982 and 2024, when she was appointed to the House of Lords as a life Peer. 

Harman joined a House of Commons when it was 97% male, and has been a champion for women’s rights throughout her career. She held Cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments. She was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party between 2007 and 2015, and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister between 2010 and 2015. She has twice served as Interim Leader of the Labour Party in 2010 and 2015, and was the first female Labour politician to answer Prime Minister’s Questions. In 2017 Harman became ‘Mother of the House’; an honorific title conferred to the longest serving woman MP.

During the last Parliament, Harman chaired the House of Commons Privileges Committee inquiry which found that the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled Parliament over “partygate”.

John Newcomb, BMF CEO, said: “Harriet Harman has had the most incredible career in politics and seen huge changes during that time. It is fitting that she will share her thoughts on the current political scene at the first BMF All Industry Conference to be held with a Labour Government in power during my tenure as CEO.

“Regular attendees will know that Harriet follows in the footsteps of other political heavyweight speakers including Michael Portillo (2013), Alistair Campbell (2015), Paddy Ashdown (2017), John Prescott (2019), John Bercow (2021) and Alan Johnson (2023). Once again, this session promises to be a highlight of our Conference.”