City 'superwoman' supports Labour

Nicola Horlick, the City "superwoman" who shot to fame last week when she went to great lengths to be reinstated in her pounds 1m-a-year job, emerged as an unlikely supporter of the Labour Party at the weekend after revealing her ambition to become an MP.

However, her aims are unlikely to be achieved at this general election as Labour sources said she did not appear to be a party member and explained that only six seats were left for selection.

Her assertion that she was already an adviser on taxation to Labour failed to be confirmed by the office of Gordon Brown, the shadow Chancellor, last night. A source at his office said no one had heard of her.

The Sunday Express quoted Mrs Horlick as saying: "I hope that Tony Blair will win the election."

"In a democracy it is wrong for the same party to stay in power for so long. I believe Mr Blair's policies are extremely sound and what the country needs."

Mrs Horlick, who is dubbed superwoman for her ability to combine her hectic family life - she has five children and an investment banking husband - and her demanding job as a pension fund manager, withdrew from the glare of the press yesterday to attend a family party.

She has also been advised not to talk any more about her argument with her former employers, Morgan Grenfell Asset Management, in case it jeopardises her lawsuit and the ongoing internal investigation by the company. This followed a number of days of intense media attention after one of the biggest rows ever seen in the City over a resignation.

Mrs Horlick gained enormous publicity, with the help of Anthony Cardew, a financial public relations adviser in the City, for her attempts to get back her job.

On Friday she stormed to the London offices of MGAM before flying to Frankfurt to demand back her job from the parent company, Deutche Bank. She denies MGAM's allegations that she was attempting to poach a team of fund managers from the firm despite being offered promotion the previous week.

She has also appointed John Farr, a leading lawyer at Herbert Smith, to pursue a claim from the firm, which could run into millions of pounds, for unlawful dismissal.

Sources warned the publicity would not help her gain employment again in the City although one friend asserted that she was "hot property". "She's the sort of person who would be offered jobs pretty regularly," the friend said.

Mr Cardew said he was surprised by the amount of publicity the events of last week caused. "If she had been a man it would have taken one and a half paragraphs on one day. It really has been blown up out of all proportion," he said.

Morgan's battle, page 18