Chris Murray (politician) explained

Chris Murray
Honorific-Suffix:MP
Constituency Mp:Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Parliament:United Kingdom
Majority:3,715 (8.1%)
Predecessor:Tommy Sheppard
Term Start:4 July 2024
Birth Place:Glasgow, Scotland
Party:Labour
Mother:Margaret Curran
Alma Mater:Oxford University
London School of Economics
Harvard University

Christopher Murray[1] (born)[2] is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh since 2024. He gained the seat from Tommy Sheppard, a member of the Scottish National Party.

Early life and education

Murray is the son of Scottish Labour politician Margaret Curran.[3] He grew up in Glasgow and attended Shawlands Academy. He then studied French and German at the University of Oxford, later studying at the London School of Economics and attending Harvard University as a John F. Kennedy Fellow.[4]

Early career

Murray began his career as a political assistant to the Labour politician Harriet Harman, holding the role for two years.[5] Harman later supported Murray's 2024 campaign for Parliament and canvassed alongside him in Edinburgh.[6] In 2014,[5] he began working as an attaché at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Paris. He stayed in the role for four years.[4] He then served as an adviser on economic diplomacy at the OECD.[5]

After leaving diplomacy, he worked as a senior government relations adviser for the charity Save the Children and was a research fellow at the IPPR Scotland thinktank.[5] Murray also volunteered as chair of the Refugee Survival Trust charity and served on the advisory council of These Islands, a thinktank producing research in favour of British unionism.[4] [5]

By May 2022, he was a policy manager for migration at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.[5]

Member of Parliament

In July 2024, Murray was elected MP for the Edinburgh East and Musselburgh constituency.[7]

Personal life

Murray is gay.[8]

Political views

In 2019, Murray was a member of the advisory committee for the Labour for a Public Vote group. Following the poor Scottish Labour results in that year's European Parliament election, he called for members of the party to back another Brexit referendum.[9]

In a July 2024 interview with The Student, Murray called for an "immediate and lasting ceasefire" in the Gaza–Israel conflict.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Members Sworn . Parliament of the United Kingdom . House of Commons . 10 July 2024 . 752 .
  2. Web site: Part Two: Who are the Scottish Labour MP hopefuls?. Kathleen. Nutt. The Herald. 16 February 2024 . 31 July 2024.
  3. News: Swanson . Ian . 5 July 2024 . General election 2024: Labour wins Edinburgh East and Musselburgh from SNP . 5 July 2024 . Edinburgh Evening News.
  4. News: Nutt . Kathleen . Scottish Labour hopefuls: From the long serving to the rising stars of new New Labour . 5 July 2024 . The Herald . 16 February 2024 . en.
  5. News: Morrison . Hamish . These Islands: Unionist think tank makes new adviser appointments . 5 July 2024 . The National . 17 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220517145027/https://www.thenational.scot/news/20145274.islands-unionist-think-tank-makes-new-adviser-appointments/ . 17 May 2022 . en.
  6. Web site: Canvassing with Harriet Harman - Labour Party . Labour Campaign Events . 5 July 2024 . en.
  7. Web site: Edinburgh East & Musselburgh General Election 2024 . 5 July 2024 . Sky News.
  8. News: LGBT+ Members of Parliament. 24 July 2024 . mps.whoare.lgbt .
  9. News: Murray . Chris . Scottish Labour's leader now supports a public vote. Let's back that decision . 5 July 2024 . LabourList . 6 June 2019.
  10. News: Brooks . Aoife . In conversation with Chris Murray, Scottish Labour candidate for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh . 5 July 2024 . The Student . 2 July 2024.