Jim Murphy

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James Francis "Jim" Murphy (born 23 August 1967) is a Scottish former politician who was Leader of the Scottish Labour Party between 2014–15 and a Cabinet Minister in the UK Government.

He was the Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire (formerly named Eastwood) from 1997 until he lost his seat in 2015. He served as Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office from 2005 to 2006, Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform from 2006 to 2007, the Minister of State for Europe from 2007–08, and the Secretary of State for Scotland in the Cabinet from 2008–10. After surviving a vote of no confidence, Murphy announced on 16 May 2015 that he would step down as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party on 13 June.

The national executive voted 17-14 in favour of his remaining in the role, more than had voted for him in his initial bid for election.

He stood down on 13 June 2015.

Personal life

Murphy is married with three children – Cara, Matthew and Daniel. He captained the Parliamentary Football Team. He is a practising Roman Catholic. He is also a vegetarian and a teetotaller. He is the author of The Ten Football Matches That Changed The World...And The One That Didn't.

Murphy was passing near to the Clutha Pub in Stockwell Street in Glasgow on the night of 29 November 2013, shortly after a Police Scotland helicopter crashed onto the roof of the pub, killing 10 people and injuring 31 others. He was later interviewed about the aftermath of the accident.

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Early life and career

Murphy was born in Glasgow and raised in an Arden flat. He was educated at St Louise's Primary School and Bellarmine Secondary School in Glasgow until 1980, when his father became unemployed, he and his family immigrated to Cape Town, South Africa. This was during the country's apartheid period, where institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination was the norm. He attended Milnerton High School in Cape Town.

Murphy returned from Scotland aged 17 to avoid serving in the South African Defence Force in 1985. At the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, he studied Politics and European Law, but he was unable to graduate. He held President of both NUS Scotland and NUS during sabbaticals from his studies. At the age of 29, he left university to become Scotland's youngest MP.

Murphy was elected President of the Scottish National Union of Students, one of the "unique region" groups within the NUS from 1992 to 1994. Murphy then took a sabbatical from academia to serve as the President of the National Union of Students in 1994, an office in which he served from 1994 to 1996, during which time he was a Labour student. He served from 1994 to 1996 as NUS President, as well as ex officio as a Director of Endsleigh Insurance.

The NUS abandoned its opposition to the abolition of the student loan in 1995. Murphy was suspended by a House of Commons early day motion, introduced by Ken Livingstone and signed by 13 other Labour MPs for "intolerant and authoritarian conduct" in connection with Clive Lewis' suspension. He was elected for a second term as NUS President, and he served until 1996. He later became Scotland's special projects manager.

Early parliamentary career

Murphy was selected to stand as the Labour Party candidate in the seat of Eastwood at the 1997 general election. On May 1, 1997, he was elected as the Scotland's youngest MP by a vote of 3,236.

Murphy served on the Public Accounts Select Committee, which oversees public expenditures from 1999 to 2001. After Frank Roy's departure over the Carfin Grotto fiasco in February 2001, he was named as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Helen Liddell, the Secretary of State for Scotland. He resigned from his previous positions as Vice Chair of the Labour Party's Treasury, Northern Ireland, and Sport Committees after becoming a PPS.

He was re-elected as MP for Eastwood in the 2001 general election with a landslide. In late 2001, he suggested bombing Afghanistan's poppy fields in an attempt to destroy the opium crop. He was appointed as a government whip in June 2002, with responsibility for the Scotland Office and the Northern Ireland Office. His responsibilities were expanded in November 2002 to include the Department of Trade and Industry, and then again in June 2003 to include the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of International Development. From 2001 to 2002, he served as the Chair of the Labour Friends of Israel.

Post-parliament career

Murphy founded a consultancy and became an advisor to the Finnish non-profit Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), advising on "conflict resolution in central Asia" after the disastrous 2015 general election's disastrous results.

Murphy took up an advisory role as a consultant to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in November 2016.

Murphy paid for a full-page advertisement in the Jewish Telegraph in August 2018, in which he chastised Jeremy Corbyn for the party's inability to root out anti-semitism. Corbyn and his top team were accused of being "intellectuously selfish, emotionally inept, and politically maladroit," according to the article, which appeared on page three of the newspaper under the heading "In sorrow and rage: an apology."

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