British barrister (born 1974)
Simon Peregrine Gauvain Murray, Baron Murray of Blidworth (born 2 August 1974), is a British lawyer [ 1] and member of the House of Lords , sitting on the Conservative benches ,[ 2] who served as a Minister for the Home Office (2022–23).[ 3]
Early life and education
The only son of Dr Nigel Ormiston Gauvain Murray (1944–2002) and his wife Shirley née Arbuthnot (born 1949), elder daughter and co-heiress of Commander Bernard Arbuthnot DSC ,[ 4] scion of the Arbuthnot baronets , his matrilineal great-great-grandfather , Sir Henry Blake GCMG ,[ 5] was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong who hailed from the Anglo-Irish gentry being seated at Myrtle Grove , County Cork .[ 6] Of Scots patrilineal descent , his grandfather was Dr Ronald Murray MBE FRCPE ,[ 7] a kinsman of the Duke of Atholl .
After graduating from the University of St Andrews as MA , Murray was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 2000.[ 8] Lord Murray practises public law at 39 Essex Chambers.[ 9]
In 2011 he appeared on the BBC show , Fake or Fortune? for his family who claim ownership of the painting; even though the family did not remember owning the painting and presumably because they had realised its worth, Children Under a Palm by Winslow Homer , which had been found by a skip over 23 years earlier;[ 10] although determined to be genuine, who owns this work of art is still a matter of dispute.
Political career
Elected to Gedling Borough Council at the 2019 local elections , Murray represented Newstead Abbey Ward as a Conservative Councillor until November 2022 after being appointed to HMG .[ 11]
Appointed Minister of State for the Home Office [ 12] by Prime Minister Liz Truss on 9 October 2022,[ 13] he was created a Life Peer on 21 October 2022, taking the title of Baron Murray of Blidworth , of Blidworth in the County of Nottinghamshire .[ 14]
Lord Murray made his maiden speech in the Upper House on 26 October 2022 during a debate on British Passports for those born the Republic of Ireland but living in Northern Ireland,[ 15] and served in the Home Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary from 30 October 2022 until 14 November 2023.[ 16]
Family and personal life
Murray married Amelia May Beaumont (born 1983),[ 17] a granddaughter of the Revd Baron Beaumont of Whitley [ 18] and a great-granddaughter of Lady May Abel Smith ,[ 19] at Temple Church London , on 4 October 2007.
Lord and Lady Murray have two children.[ 20]
A Freeman of the City of London and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners ,[ 21] Lord Murray is a member of MCC and serves on the ceremonial staff of the Order of St John .[ 22]
See also
References
Notes