Harriet Harman angrily denied she invented claims that a 'repulsive' university lecturer offered bump up her marks if she slept with him.

The former deputy Labour leader hit back at the lecturer's ex-wife, who dismissed her allegation, which was revealed in her memoir - A Woman's Work, published this week.

She said Professor T. V. Sathyamurthy, her course tutor at York University who died in 1998, told her she was a borderline candidate and would get an upper or lower second – a 2:1 or 2:2 - in her politics degree.

He said her grade was likely to suffer if she did not sleep with him. Ms Harman, now 66, said she rejected his proposal.

Challenged today over claims from Prof Sathyamurthy's ex-wife Carole Satyamurti, 77, that the allegations were untrue, Ms Harman told the BBC: 'I'm telling you – it happened. The idea that somehow I would invent it – why would I?'

Scroll down for video

Harriet Harman, pictured on the Andrew Marr Show today, angrily denied claims she invented claims that a 'repulsive' university lecturer offered bump up her marks if she slept with him

Harriet Harman, pictured in the 1980s, said harassment from a former University lecturer was the reason she became a feminist

The Labour MP said the incident was one of the reasons she became a feminist and decided to speak out about it now to help today's students feel they can complain if they are pestered for sex.

'I haven't said anything about out till now because it was horrible and I was risking [my degree] – I'd earned that level of mark – why should I be downgraded?' she said.

'It was a threat and it did actually happen and I said it happened now, having not said anything about it before, because I think we need to look at how we make sure those people, who are put in that position, feel able to complain... and those people who do that are held to account.'

She also called for more action to help female students who face similar harassment.

'It's also quite wrong to believe that things like this only happened in those days. It still goes on today,' she said.

'Surveys have shown a very large number of women are subjected to this kind of behaviour now. Thankfully, it is easier for them to complain but we need to give them more help.'

Harriet Harman, pictured wearing the 'This is what a feiminist looks like' T-shirt, said the incident was one of the reasons she became a feminist and decided to speak out about it now to help today's students feel they can complain if they are pestered for sex

Ms Harman graduated from York in 1972 at the age of 21, and has said she obtained a 2:1 ‘despite’ rejecting the professor’s offer.

Hitting out at suggestions she was 'making a fuss' because she's a feminist, she said: 'It was worse than that, he threatened to lower my marks if I didn't sleep with him,' she said.

'The idea put about by some that I am making a fuss about it now because I am a feminist is completely ridiculous. It's things like this that make women like me feminists.'

Speaking from her north London home, Mrs Satyamurti, who spells her name slightly differently from her ex-husband’s, said she could not believe the allegation was true.

The retired poet and sociology lecturer, said: ‘That’s horrible. I find this very hard to believe. The story sounds very dubious to me. He was very brilliant and full of jokes but very respectful of women. I’m sure he wouldn’t have done that.’

They married in 1963 but separated around the time of their daughter’s birth in 1972.

Ms Harman, 66, once said women's rights were at the heart of her decision to enter politics. 'I am in the Labour Party because I am a feminist … because I believe in equality.'