UK Edition
Harriet Harman claims university lecturer offered her better politics degree in return for sex
Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, has claimed that a university lecturer offered her a better degree score in exchange for sex.
The MP said she was "repulsed" by the alleged offer from a professor while she was studying politics at the University of York in the 1970s.
She said that Professor T V Sathyamurthy told her he could guarantee her a 2:1 in return for sleeping with him after telling her she was a "borderline candidate".
Miss Harman, now 66, graduated aged 21 in 1972 with a 2:1 degree despite having turned down the married professor's alleged advances.
Referring to the incident when she was a politics undergraduate, she said she "did not" respond to the alleged offer by her course tutor, adding: "I was repulsed by him."
The claim is made in Miss Harman's memoir, called A Woman's Work, which is due to be published next week, reported the Daily Mail.
Prof Sathyamurthy, who died in 1998 aged 68 after 30 years of teaching at York, was married at the time of the alleged incident.
At the time of his death, an obituary described academic life as being like "oxygen" to Madras-born Prof Sathyamurthy, adding: "His curiosity about his human habitat knew no bounds.
"Filed in his capacious memory were countless anecdotes, tales of feuds, mishaps, indiscretions and entanglements (he candidly confessed to more than his fair share)."
Miss Harman's new book, which is being promoted as "the story of women's progressive politics over the past 30 years", charts her role in increasing the number of female MPs and tackling a Parliamentary culture "with no consideration for family life".
She became the first Minister for Women under Tony Blair in 1997 and ten years later was appointed Minister for Women and Equality by Gordon Brown.
Miss Harman joined an estimated 100,000 who descended on central London on Saturday in a women's march as protests were held around the world following US President Donald Trump's inauguration.
Dr David Duncan, registrar and secretary at the University of York, said: "The allegations made by Ms Harman are extremely concerning.
"The University of York strongly condemns all forms of sexual harassment and will not tolerate it among staff or students.
"Behaviour of the sort described by Ms Harman would constitute gross misconduct and would lead to dismissal.
"We have an extensive support system in place for students and staff who are concerned about harassment of any kind.
"We are also in the process of developing new guidance following publication of the recent UUK report on violence against women, harassment and race hate."