Preceded by Constituency Created Spouse Jenny Murrison Majority 10,367 (21.1%) | Name Andrew Murrison Role Doctor | |
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Books Tommy This An' Tommy That: The Military Covenant Profiles | ||
Dr andrew murrison mp speaks at the history press fww centenary launch
Andrew William Murrison VR (born 24 April 1961, Colchester) is a doctor and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. After serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Westbury from 2001 to 2010, at the 2010 general election he was elected for the new seat of South West Wiltshire, covering much of the same area, including the towns of Trowbridge, Warminster and Westbury.
Contents
- Dr andrew murrison mp speaks at the history press fww centenary launch
- Andrew murrison mp discusses uk s centenary plans ww1
- Early life
- Medical and naval career
- Political career
- Appointments during the 2010 Parliament
- Family
- Publications
- References
On 12 July 2017, Murrison was elected chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
Andrew murrison mp discusses uk s centenary plans ww1
Early life
The son of William Gordon Murrison RD and Marion Murrison, he grew up in Harwich, Essex, and went to local schools there, Harwich High School (now Harwich and Dovercourt High School), and the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.
Medical and naval career
With the benefit of a Royal Naval scholarship, Murrison qualified as a doctor from the University of Bristol medical school in 1984 and holds the degrees of MD, MB ChB.
Until 2000, he served in the Royal Navy as a medical officer based at Fareham. He served in the Gulf War of 1990–1991 and retired with the rank of Surgeon-Commander. During his Naval career he served as an Honorary Research Registrar at Southampton General Hospital and spent one year as a postgraduate student at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, obtaining a Diploma in Public Health. From 2000, he worked as a general practitioner locum in Wiltshire and as a Consultant at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
In 2003, as a naval reserve officer, he was recalled to serve in Iraq for a six-month tour of duty.
In September and October 2008, he took part in Exercise Apollo, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, to refresh his skills, including dealing with combat casualties.
Political career
Before entering full-time politics, Murrison was a member of the Bow Group, an assistant to Sir Peter Lloyd (the MP for his home constituency of Fareham), and then from 1999 to 2000 an assistant to Lord Freeman, whose role at Conservative Central Office was screening potential parliamentary candidates.
In September 2000, Murrison was selected as the prospective Conservative candidate for the West Wiltshire constituency of Westbury and in June 2001 he was elected as Member of Parliament for the constituency. He was then appointed to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee and was also a member of the Standing Committee on the NHS Reform Bill.
In the 2001 Conservative leadership election, Murrison supported Michael Portillo.
In November 2003, Murrison was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Health, while also taking an active interest in defence policy.
In 2004, in a free vote, he voted against the bill to ban foxhunting and hare coursing which became the Hunting Act 2004.
He was re-elected to parliament at the General Election in May 2005, and was appointed as shadow defence minister.
In 2005, he spoke in parliament against 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".
In House of 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.
In the debate on a Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill in May 2008, he supported amendments to the bill aimed at reducing the maximum gestational age for an abortion from twenty-four to twenty weeks, commenting: "The shock of the abortion list twenty-five years ago is still clear in my mind. Since then, societal attitudes have changed, in part because of improved imaging of the unborn child. I'm sure the law needs updating and twenty weeks appears to strike the right balance".
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".
Murrison's Westbury constituency was abolished at the end of the parliament of 2005 to 2010, but he was selected as the Conservative candidate for the new South West Wiltshire constituency, which includes most of his former electoral area, and was elected on 6 May 2010.
Appointments during the 2010 Parliament
Family
Murrison is married to Jennifer Jane Munden (Jenny), a physiotherapist. They have five daughters and live near Mere in Wiltshire.