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Andrew Murrison
Surgeon Commander Andrew William Murrison (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, naval officer and Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Wiltshire, previously Westbury, since 2001. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Families from October 2022 to July 2024.[1] Murrison has held a variety of positions within the British government, including Minister for International Security Strategy, Minister of State for Northern Ireland, and then Minister of State for International Development and the Middle East. In Parliament, he chaired the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee[2] from July 2017 to May 2019. Early life and educationAndrew Murrison was born on 24 April 1961 in Colchester. The son of William Gordon Murrison RD and Marion Murrison, he grew up in Harwich, where he attended Harwich and Dovercourt High School,[3][4] and the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.[5] Medical and naval careerHaving been awarded a Royal Navy scholarship, Murrison qualified as a doctor from the University of Bristol's medical school in 1984. He holds the degrees of MD and MB ChB.[3][5] After his graduation and until 2000, Murrison served in the Royal Navy as a medical officer based at Fareham and retired with the rank of Surgeon-Commander.[3][5] During his naval career he worked as an Honorary Research Registrar at Southampton General Hospital and spent a year as a postgraduate student at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, obtaining a Diploma in Public Health.[3] From 2000, he worked as a general practitioner locum in Wiltshire and as a consultant in occupational health at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. In 2003, as a naval reserve officer, Murrison served in Iraq for a six-month tour of duty.[3] Political careerBefore entering full-time politics, Murrison was a member of the Bow Group, an assistant to Sir Peter Lloyd, and then from 1999 to 2000 an assistant to Lord Freeman, whose role at Conservative Central Office was screening potential parliamentary candidates.[5] Parliamentary careerAt the 2001 general election, Murrison was elected to Parliament as the Conservative MP for Westbury with 42.1% of the vote and a majority of 5,294.[6] In the 2001 Conservative leadership election, Murrison supported Michael Portillo.[5] In 2004, in a free vote, Murrison voted against the bill to ban foxhunting and hare coursing which became the Hunting Act 2004.[7] Murrison was re-elected as MP for Westbury at the 2005 general election with an increased vote share of 44.5% and an increased majority of 5,346.[8] After the election, he was appointed as shadow defence minister.[9] In 2005, he spoke in parliament against a proposed European military union, saying "The threat that the proposed Euro force might pose to one of the most successful post-war organisations, NATO, and to our symbiotic relationship with the United States, has surely not been adequately explored".[9] In a Commons divisions in 2007 on a number of House of Lords reform options, Murrison voted for options 7 and 8, proposing a 100% elected House of Lords, including the removal of all remaining hereditary peers, and against options 4 and 5, which proposed a partly elected and partly appointed upper chamber.[7] He is the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Clinical Leadership and Management, and is a member of the "Cardiac Risk in the Young All Party Parliamentary Group".[10] Prior to the 2010 general election, Murrison's constituency of Westbury was abolished, and replaced with South West Wiltshire. He was elected as MP for South West Wiltshire with 51.7% of the vote and a majority of 10,367.[11][12] In November 2011, Murrison was appointed as the Prime Minister's special representative for First World War centenary commemorations.[13] He was in September 2012 appointed as Minister for International Security Strategy in the Ministry of Defence.[14] In July 2014, Murrison was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.[15] At the 2015 general election, Murrison was re-elected as MP for South West Wiltshire with an increased vote share of 52.7% and an increased majority of 18,168.[16] In January 2016, he appointed Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Tunisia and Morocco,[17] until his resignation on 5 July 2022.[18] Murrison was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 60% and an increased majority of 18,326.[19] He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election with an increased vote share of 60.2% and an increased majority of 21,630.[20] At the 2024 general election, Murrison was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 33.8% and a decreased majority of 3,243.[21] Personal lifeMurrison is married to Jennifer (Jenny) Munden, a physiotherapist. They have five daughters and live near Mere in Wiltshire.[3][4] He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council on 22 May 2019 at Buckingham Palace.[22] This gave him the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable" for life. Honours
Publications
References
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