Jack Dromey, lined up for safe Labour seat (Unite DGS)

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Harriet Harman's husband, Jack Dromey, lined up for safe Labour seat

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Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the Unite union, is "very likely" to be chosen as Labour's candidate for Leyton and Wanstead, according to senior party sources.

The constituency has a Labour majority of 6,857 over the Liberal Democrats, with the Tories in third place and is seen as an ideal place for Mr Dromey to launch his parliamentary career.

Its siting MP, Harry Cohen, has announced he is standing down at the next election, which must be held by next June, after being damaged by the MPs' expenses affair.

Labour MPs believe Mr Dromey, 60, would be a powerful weapon in any future leadership bid launched by Ms Harman were he to become an MP.

His main role would be to use his network of union contacts to secure support for her candidacy both inside and outside the House of Commons.

The pair would also become Labour's second most influential "power couple" after Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, and his wife Yvette Cooper, the Work and Pensions Secretary.

Unite – a super union created by the merger of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) and Amicus – is currently Labour's largest donor. The party gets 90 per cent of its cash from unions.

Unite gave more than £615,000 to Labour in the first three months of this year – and its funding is set to increase dramatically in the run up to the election.

Mr Dromey – who with Ms Harman has three children, all with the surname Harman – is the former Treasurer of the Labour Party.

He helped spark the "cash for peerages" affair in 2006 by declaring he knew nothing about loans made to the party by wealthy donors who were then proposed as members of the House of Lords.

In 2007 Ms Harman helped fund her successful £100,000 campaign for her party's deputy leadership by jointly taking out with Mr Dromey a £40,000 mortgage extension on their London house.

A senior Labour source said: "Leyton and Wanstead is perfect for Jack. It's in London so he and Harriet wouldn't even need to buy another house." Ms Harman is MP for Peckham.

Mr Cohen blamed stress and "false allegations" for his decision to stand down from the constituency, ending a 26-year parliamentary career

The MP claimed his second home was just six miles from parliament in Wanstead. He received Additional Cost Allowance (ACA) of £104, 701 between 2002 and 2007.

His main family home, meanwhile, was listed as a 200-year-old converted school in Colchester, Essex.

[Lounge Lizard]

That's good news.
A husband and wife both as MPs just might share a house and cut down on expenses claimed from the public purse.

[norbert]

That's good news.
A husband and wife both as MPs just might share a house and cut down on expenses claimed from the public purse.

He's very ambitious for Harridan Harperson - I've no time for her sort , the silver spooned busy body that wants to change everything but be in charge afterwards , mediocre in everything but ambition .

That slimy Cameron , his sidekick Osbourne and the rest of that old Etonian shadow cabinet must be rubbing their hands with glee .