Sheryll Murray

Early life

Sheryll Murray was born on 4 February 1956 in the village of Millbrook, Cornwall, to Cornish parents, her mother's family lived at Millbrook and her father's family originated from the village of Calstock. Her early education was at Millbrook Primary and Torpoint Community College. Murray left the latter at the age of 16 with 5 O-Levels and worked for the South Western Electricity Board. She then worked for an insurance underwriter and later as a medical receptionist at a GP surgery. She served as a Governor of Torpoint School for nine years until 2008, before standing down to concentrate on campaigning for the forthcoming general election.

Murray prior to her parliamentary career, represented Rame as a Cornwall County Councillor before losing her seat in 2005, and served as Leader of the Conservative Group on Caradon District Council, when a councillor for Millbrook, prior to its abolition in 2009.

Parliamentary career

Murray was selected to contest South East Cornwall in 2010 and gained the seat with a majority of 3,220 and a 9% swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives. Murray was the constituency's first ever female MP. In May 2012, she was elected to the 1922 Committee by her Conservative Parliamentary colleagues.

Also in May 2012, she came 12th in the private member's bill ballot. Her Bill, the Marine Navigation (No.2) Bill received Royal Assent as the Marine Navigation Act 2013 in April 2013. In May 2013, she came 4th in the ballot, and introduced a Bill which received Royal Assent as the Deep Sea Mining Act 2014 in May 2014.

In November 2016, along with fellow Conservative MP Tom Pursglove, she was accused of filibustering to kill the second reading of a private members bill aimed at stopping guide dog owners being illegally refused access from taxis. Her actions resulted in a demonstration outside her constituency office.

Murray has served on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in the House of Commons. Her main policy interests are the environment and tourism; she has campaigned on fisheries issues as a spokesperson for Save Britain's Fish and is a member of the Fishermen's Association.

Murray supported Brexit in the 2016 European Union Referendum.

During the 2017 general election campaign in early June, Murray said at a hustings meeting: "If for instance somebody had moved house, or if their financial situation had changed while they're going through the reassessment and their benefits are delayed, then sometimes they need to call upon the food banks. But I am really pleased we have food banks in south east Cornwall". These controversial comments angered some at the meeting who booed her. Murray in response gestured with her hand towards the group booing her and commented to the rest of the audience, "... and let's ignore these people". This resulted in gasps in the audience and one woman stood up to condemn her. Murray then threatened to call the police to remove the woman from the hustings after she refused to leave of her own accord. Later, she clarified her comments: "Nobody is saying a person going hungry is a good thing and everything must be done to stop this. Whilst we work to eradicate hunger however the food banks themselves do provide a good service". After her re-election, Murray called for greater regulation of social media content and protection of MPs from intimidation after claiming that during the campaign she was personally subjected to sustained abuse from users on social media.

Personal life

Her first marriage was to Jon Whitehall, a geologist. They divorced after seven years. Murray then married trawlerman Neil Murray, who died in a fishing accident on 24 March 2011. A search by local fishermen and the emergency services discovered his body on board his boat Our Boy Andrew. Murray has one daughter and one son. Her daughter Sally from her first marriage works as an officer in the Royal Navy. Her son Andrew from her second marriage works in marine electronics.