62 Facts About Jim Murphy

James Francis Murphy was born on 23 August 1967 and is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010.

Jim Murphy was Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire, formerly Eastwood, from 1997 to 2015.

Jim Murphy identifies as a social democrat and has expressed support for a foreign policy of Western interventionism.

Jim Murphy has been described as being on the political right of the Labour Party.

Jim Murphy served in the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from 2005 to 2006, Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform from 2006 to 2007 and Minister of State for Europe from 2007 to 2008.

From 2008 to 2010, Jim Murphy served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland.

Jim Murphy led Scottish Labour into the 2015 general election, in which he said, "I will not lose a single seat to the SNP" before the party lost 40 of its 41 seats during a landslide victory for the Scottish National Party, who won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland.

Jim Murphy was born in Glasgow and raised in a flat in Arden.

Jim Murphy was educated at St Louise's Primary School, followed by Bellarmine Secondary School in Glasgow until 1980, when, after his father became unemployed, he and his family emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1985, Jim Murphy returned to Scotland aged 17 to avoid service in the South African Defence Force.

Jim Murphy studied Politics and European Law at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow but failed to graduate.

Jim Murphy dropped out of university to become the youngest Scottish MP at the age of 29.

Jim Murphy then took a further sabbatical from university in 1994 to serve as the President of the National Union of Students, an office which he held from 1994 to 1996, during which time he was a member of Labour Students.

Jim Murphy was condemned by a House of Commons early day motion, introduced by Ken Livingstone and signed by 13 other Labour MPs, for "intolerant and dictatorial behaviour" regarding Clive Lewis' suspension.

Jim Murphy was elected for a second term as NUS President, serving until 1996.

Jim Murphy then became special projects manager of the Scottish Labour Party.

Jim Murphy was selected to stand as the Labour Party candidate in the seat of Eastwood at the 1997 general election.

Jim Murphy was elected as MP for Eastwood on 1 May 1997, winning the formerly safe Conservative seat with a majority of 3,236 as Scotland's youngest MP.

From 1999 to 2001, Jim Murphy was a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee, which oversees public expenditure.

Jim Murphy's responsibilities were expanded in November 2002 to include the Department of Trade and Industry, and again in June 2003 to cover the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

Jim Murphy was the Chair of the Labour Friends of Israel from 2001 to 2002.

Jim Murphy was re-elected with a majority of 6,657 and subsequently promoted to ministerial rank as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office.

Jim Murphy was promoted in May 2006 to become Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform.

Jim Murphy oversaw the Welfare Reform Act 2007 and told a conference in Edinburgh the housing benefit changes and employment and support allowance would help single parents and older citizens back into work.

Jim Murphy's reforms helped lay the foundations for the policies of subsequent Conservative governments, which saw thousands of people with health conditions and disabilities dying within six weeks of being declared fit for work.

Jim Murphy was promoted to Minister of State for Europe in June 2007.

Jim Murphy helped to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, which was confirmed on 16 July 2007.

Jim Murphy was the cabinet minister responsible for co-ordinating Pope Benedict's visit to the UK in 2010 - which was the first ever state visit by a Pope to the UK.

Jim Murphy was one of the two campaign managers for David Miliband's failed bid for the leadership of the Labour Party, along with Douglas Alexander.

In 2011, The Daily Telegraph published documents, compiled by a senior US official at the US Embassy in London and published by WikiLeaks, stating that throughout 2009, Jim Murphy had a leading role in organising the support of opposition parties in promoting the implementation of the Commission on Scottish Devolution's recommendations.

Jim Murphy praised the "vital" role of NATO during the military intervention in the 2011 Libyan crisis resolution, stating that Libya had been set "on a path to censure, democratic and peaceful future".

Jim Murphy criticised the scrapping of the Rolls-Royce Nimrod, stating it was "probably the most expensive technically capable aircraft in our history" and it had been treated "like second hand car sent to scrap" despite its usefulness in defence.

Jim Murphy co-chaired the review of the Labour Party in Scotland with Sarah Boyack, commissioned by Ed Miliband in May 2011 in response to the landslide victory by the Scottish National Party in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, which reported in August of that year.

On 3 July 2013, Jim Murphy criticised the Unite trade union for "bullying" and "overstepping the mark" for allegedly interfering with the selection of a candidate in Falkirk.

In 2013, Jim Murphy was moved to the post of Shadow Secretary of State for International Development in a "purge of Blairites" by Ed Miliband.

Jim Murphy stated he had agreed to take a more prominent role in the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland in the UK.

Jim Murphy told a radio show in October 2013 that female soldiers should be able to serve in combat roles.

In March 2014, Jim Murphy criticised FIFA for the management of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, citing the "sub-human working conditions" he saw when visiting the worker camps for the Qatar stadiums.

Jim Murphy did not appeal, and repaid the money in full.

Jim Murphy briefly suspended the tour on 28 August 2014, after an egg was thrown at him by a member of the public in Kirkcaldy.

Jim Murphy claimed this was the result of an orchestrated attack by mobs of protesters organised by the Yes Scotland campaign in a deliberate attempt to intimidate him.

The man responsible was a local resident who was a supporter of Scottish independence, who alleged that Jim Murphy had not answered a question asked of him.

Jim Murphy was awarded The Spectator's Campaigner of the Year prize for his role in the 'No' campaign during the independence debate.

Jim Murphy resigned from the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet in November 2014 to focus on his campaign.

In December 2014, Jim Murphy stated he was in favour for alcohol ban at Scottish football matches to be overturned on a trial basis.

In February 2015, Jim Murphy claimed that four times as many NHS operations were being cancelled in Scotland as in England.

When it emerged that the claim was based on a misreading of the statistics, Jim Murphy had to delete a YouTube video and a message on social media he had made capitalising on the false claim.

In March 2015, citing figures from The Guardian on the low rate of Scotland's poorest pupils going to university, Jim Murphy confirmed that higher education tuition would remain free for Scottish students.

On his election as party leader Jim Murphy said he was determined under his leadership Labour would not lose any MPs to the SNP in the British general election of May 2015.

On 27 February 2015, Jim Murphy announced that he would again stand for the Westminster parliamentary seat of East Renfrewshire in the election.

Jim Murphy lost his own East Renfrewshire seat to the SNP's Kirsten Oswald, leading to calls for his resignation.

Jim Murphy stated that the loss was due to "an absence of ideas" rather than a "lack of passion", and referenced Labour's additional defeats in England as another factor affecting the party's success.

In spite of surviving a vote of no confidence by 17 votes to 14 at a party meeting in Glasgow, Jim Murphy announced on 16 May 2015 that he intended to step down as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in June.

Jim Murphy added that Scottish Labour was the "least modernised part of the Labour movement", and commented that problem with the Labour party lay not with the trade unionists, but with Len McCluskey, leader of Unite, whose behaviour he described as "destructive".

Jim Murphy identifies as a social democrat and has expressed sympathy for democratic socialism but has been described as being on the political right of the Labour Party.

Jim Murphy has frequently been referred to as a Blairite but has claimed the term is outdated.

Jim Murphy is on the Political Council of the Henry Jackson Society, whose outlook has been described variously as neoliberal and as neoconservative.

In January 2015, the Scottish National Party and Scottish Greens called on Jim Murphy to resign from the Henry Jackson Society.

In November 2016, Jim Murphy took up an employed position as an adviser to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Jim Murphy is the author of The Ten Football Matches That Changed The World.

Jim 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.

Jim Murphy was later interviewed about the aftermath of the accident.