James Murray (British politician, born 1983)

The Right Honourable
James Murray
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Paymaster General
Incumbent
Assumed office
21 July 2026
Prime MinisterAndy Burnham
Preceded byNick Thomas-Symonds
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Incumbent
Assumed office
21 July 2026
Prime MinisterAndy Burnham
Preceded byThe Lord Livermore
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In office
14 May 2026 – 20 July 2026
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byWes Streeting
Succeeded byYvette Cooper
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
1 September 2025 – 14 May 2026
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byDarren Jones
Succeeded byLucy Rigby
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
In office
9 July 2024 – 1 September 2025
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byGareth Davies
Succeeded byDan Tomlinson
Member of Parliament
for Ealing North
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byStephen Pound
Majority12,489 (28.9%)
Shadow portfolios
2020–2024Financial Secretary
2020–2020Whip
Deputy Mayor of London
for Housing and Residential Development
In office
14 April 2016 – 16 October 2019
MayorSadiq Khan
Preceded byRick Blakeway
Succeeded byTom Copley
Member of Islington Council
for Barnsbury
In office
6 May 2006 – 26 May 2016
Succeeded byRowena Champion
Personal details
BornJames Stewart Murray
(1983-07-13) 13 July 1983
Hammersmith, London, England
PartyLabour Co-op
EducationSt Paul's School
Wadham College, Oxford (BA)
Websitejamesmurray.org

James Stewart Murray (born 13 July 1983) is a British politician who has served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General since 2026.[1] A member of the Labour and Cooperative party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing North since 2019. He served as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from May to July 2026, following the resignation of Wes Streeting. He previously served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from September 2025 until May 2026, and as the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from July 2024 until September 2025. He served as Deputy Mayor of London for Housing from 2016 to 2019.

Early life and education

James Murray was born on 13 July 1983 in Hammersmith. His mother Lynne was a Labour councillor for Cleveland ward in Ealing from 2014 to 2018.[2] His grandmother was an active Labour supporter.[3] He grew up in West Ealing and was privately educated at St Paul's School, before studying PPE at Wadham College, Oxford.[4][5][6] Murray graduated with a first-class BA degree in 2004.[7]

Early political career

Murray served as a councillor in Islington from 2006 to 2016,[8] representing Barnsbury ward. He was the borough's Executive Member for Housing and Development from 2010 to 2016.[7] In this role, Inside Housing reported that he "proved himself to be a tough negotiator who knows what he wants".[9]

He advised Sadiq Khan during his successful selection and election campaigns to become Mayor of London,[10] and was appointed by Khan as London's Deputy Mayor for Housing in 2016.[10]

As Deputy Mayor, Murray championed a new 'fast track' approach to affordable housing requirements for development in London.[11] The new approach encouraged developers to offer more affordable homes upfront in exchange for dropping complex viability negotiations.[12] It boosted affordable housing provision and won backing from many in the property industry for speeding up the process.[13][14]

Murray also oversaw the Mayor's £4.8bn affordable homes investment programme. He developed the first-ever City Hall initiative dedicated to building council homes, Building Council Homes for Londoners,[10] which raised council homebuilding to its highest level in 34 years.[15]

Parliamentary career

At the 2019 general election, Murray was elected to Parliament as MP for Ealing North with 56.5% of the vote and a majority of 12,269.[16][17] He gave his maiden speech in January 2020.[18] He became a member of the Health and Social Care Committee in March 2020[19] and was appointed to the Opposition Whips' Office in April 2020.[20]

On 16 October 2020, he was appointed Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, following the resignation of Dan Carden the previous day.

As Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, he led for the Opposition on legislation including several finance bills, and bills affecting stamp duty and National Insurance Contributions.[21]

Murray was re-elected as MP for Ealing North at the 2024 general election with a decreased vote share of 47.8% and an increased majority of 12,489.[22] Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Murray Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in his government in the early days of his premiership. In the 2025 British cabinet reshuffle, Murray replaced Darren Jones as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.[23] He was subsequently appointed to the Privy Council.[24]

On 14 May 2026, following the resignation of Wes Streeting, Murray was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.[25][26][27][28]

In July 2026, he was replaced as Health Secretary by Yvette Cooper.[29] Murray joined the Burnham ministry as Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General.[30]

Views

Following the Supreme Court's 2025 ruling on restricting single-sex spaces, Murray supported the ruling stating “it is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling."[31] As of June 2026, Murray has stated that he no longer considers transgender women to be women, citing the Supreme Court's 2026 judgment to restrict single-sex spaces to those assigned a specific sex at birth.[32]

Personal life

Murray lives in West Ealing with his husband Tom Griffiths.[7] In the late 2000s, Murray was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. He received treatment at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, and is now symptom-free.[18][33]

References

  1. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2026". GOV.UK. 21 July 2026. Retrieved 21 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "CMIS > Councillors". ealing.cmis.uk.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. ↑ Bunder, Leslie (June 2024). "Ealing North Labour candidate James Murray on why he wants to be re-elected as MP - EALING.NEWS - the Voice of Ealing 7 towns - Acton, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale, Southall". EALING.NEWS - The Voice of Ealing 7 towns - Acton, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale, Southall.
  4. ↑ "At last, Labour wins a majority! It's got more women than men". The Times (London). 15 December 2019. p. 23.
  5. ↑ "Ealing's Local Web site". www.ealingtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "Election winners". www.wadham.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "Murray, James Stewart, (born 13 July 1983), MP (Lab Co-op) Ealing North, since 2019". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2020. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u293073. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 1 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  8. ↑ "Councillors". Islington Council. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Housing's head boy". Inside Housing. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 "James Murray (past staff)". London City Hall. 24 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  11. ↑ "GLA offers fast-track planning if developers hit 35% affordable homes". Construction News. 29 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "City Hall likely to scrap viability assessments above fixed affordable rate". Property Week. 10 November 2016.
  13. ↑ "Khan's 35% flat rate starts to deliver". EG. 6 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "State of play: London". Building. 6 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "Mayor boosts council homebuilding to highest level in 34 years". London City Hall. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  16. ↑ "Statements of persons nominated and notice of poll: UK Parliamentary General Election 12 December 2019". www.ealing.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  17. ↑ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  18. 1 2 ""We must win the battle for the NHS" – James Murray's maiden speech". LabourList. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  19. ↑ "Health and Social Care Committee membership agreed - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  20. ↑ "Labour makes Whips Office appointments". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  21. ↑ "Hansard - Contributions for James Murray". UK Parliament.
  22. ↑ "Ealing North - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  23. ↑ Lynch, David (1 September 2025). "Starmer appoints Darren Jones to new role as PM's chief secretary". The Standard. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  24. ↑ "Privy Council Meeting 10 September 2025". Privy Council Office. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  25. ↑ "The Rt Hon James Murray MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 16 May 2026.
  26. ↑ "Secretary of State for Health and Social Care - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2026.
  27. ↑ UK Prime Minister [@10DowningStreet] (14 May 2026). "The Rt Hon James Murray MP @JamesMurray_ldn has been appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care @DHSCgovuk" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 May 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  28. ↑ Adu, Aletha (15 May 2026). "Who is James Murray, the new health secretary replacing Wes Streeting?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  29. ↑ Wetherill, Jack (21 July 2026). "New Health Secretary Yvette Cooper's stance on LGBTQ+ issues". PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  30. ↑ "Round up of Burnham's ministerial appointments". LabourList. 21 July 2026. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  31. ↑ MD (10 June 2026). "Man in the Eye: New Health Secretary: James Who?". Private Eye. No. 1677. p. 12.
  32. ↑ "New health secretary James Murray says he would no longer say trans women are women". The Guardian. 1 June 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  33. ↑ "Hansard - NHS Workforce Debate". UK Parliament. 6 December 2022.
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