article: Ed Miliband today refused to guarantee that Harriet Harman would become Deputy Prime Minister if Labour wins the general election. Just hours before the party launched its women's manifesto, the Labour leader declined several chances to say that his deputy would get the second most powerful job if he gets to Number 10. The snub comes just three days after Miss Harman made clear that she intended to take the role were Labour to make it back into power. Ed Miliband today refused to confirm that deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman would become Deputy Prime Minister if Labour wins the general election . Miss Harman has previously suggested that Gordon Brown's refusal in 2007 to maker her Deputy PM was sexist. Today Mr Miliband also refused to guarantee her the role. He told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: 'Well she's the shadow deputy Prime Minister at the moment. 'I've made a sort of self-denying ordinance which is that I don't do what I call measuring the curtains, which is starting to presume the result of the election on May 7th. 'Harriet is an incredibly strong, incredible asset to our party, I can't say fairer than that, but I'm not going to start anticipating what might happen after the election.' His remarks will infuriate Miss Harman, who told the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday that she intended to become Deputy Prime Minister. 'Well I'm Shadow Deputy Prime Minister and I hope that we'll get into government,' she said. Last year Miss Harman used a speech to criticise Mr Brown for not making her Deputy PM when she was elected Labour's deputy leader. 'Imagine my surprise when having won a hard-fought election to succeed John Prescott as deputy leader of the Labour Party, I discovered that I was not to succeed him as deputy prime minister,' she said. 'If one of the men had won the deputy leadership would that have happened? Would they have put up with it? I doubt it.' While refusing to guarantee the job to Miss Harman, Mr Miliband has given stronger assurance to shadow Chancellor Ed Balls that he will have the top job at the Treasury, however. Last month he said: 'I'll tell you who is going to be writing a Labour Budget – it's me and Ed Balls, not Alex Salmond in a million years.' Miss Harman is touring the UK in a pink bus which is meant to showcase 'women's issues' but has been derided for being patronising to female voters . Mr Miliband also defended Miss Harman's 'pink bus', saying he 'loved it' but had not yet been on board. The pink bus – which is meant to showcase 'women's issues' - has been derided for being patronising to female voters. But Mr Miliband defended it, saying at least it 'provoked' a conversation. 'I love the pink bus, I am aspiring to go on it.' He also hit out at suggestions that his wife Justine Thornton had fallen into the 'trap' of being an accessory on the campaign trail, insisting she cared deeply about the country. 'I'd like to see anyone try and stop Justine taking part in this campaign because she'd tell them what for….She is not part of the padding, she is her own person.' Mr Miliband added that she was a 'very successful environmental lawyer' who has recently had her 'biggest case which was about defending Columbian farmers from the might of BP'. Asked about his complicated former love life – including a tryst with former Newsnight economics editor Stephanie Flanders - being played out in the press, Mr Miliband insisted it did not bother him. 'The people I feel sorry for are the people who I have been out with in the past because I am a public figure and they are not.' The Labour leader also admitted his main 'frustration' with his job was not being able to spend enough time with his sons, Daniel, 5 and Samuel, 4. Mr Miliband admitted that he would be hit by his planned Mansion Tax on his £2million north London home . Presenter Jenni Murray told Mr Miliband when she looked at his young sons, she thought of the pressures that had befallen Euan Blair. Mr Miliband admitted: 'It's hard this, I know my first responsibility is to be their dad and I take that incredibly seriously. If I have one frustration about this job, it's making the time for them. I don't want to be an absent father but I am definitely not going to let that happen.' One of Labour's own policies would end up costing his family more, Mr Miliband admitted. He said his own north London townhouse: 'I think I'll be in the £2m to £3m band which is £250 a month. But that is a difference at this election: I believe that people who are well-off, people in my position, should pay a little bit more for the NHS; David Cameron wants to cut taxes further for those who are better off like himself.' Mr Miliband also insisted that he and his older brother were 'moving on' from the Labour contest, in which Ed Miliband was the surprise victor. Asked why, as his critics said, he had 'stabbed' his brother David in the front to go for the Labour leadership, Mr Miliband said: 'What drove me to it is a sense that the Labour Party needed to move on from New Labour. I had strong and deep beliefs about how the country needed to change.' He denied his mother had been too troubled by it, saying 'My mum is pretty stoical. She has faced much harder things to deal with in her life.' Mr Miliband also pledged to try and scrap the 'ridiculous' tampon tax. Currently, sanitary products attract VAT of 5 per cent. He said: 'We reduced it to 5 per cent, I'd like to go further. I can't promise I will go further because there are these rules in place, but I will keep trying, because it seems to me a ridiculous that you have VAT at all on this,' he said.
highlights: Labour leader declines several times to say that his deputy would get job .
  Harman suggested it was sexist of Gordon Brown not to make her deputy .
  Miliband defends Labour's pink bus touring country to woo women .
  Admits he would be hit by his plan for a Mansion Tax on £2million homes .
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