Grahame Morris

{{Use British English|date=October 2019}}{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Grahame Morris

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Official portrait of Grahame Morris MP crop 2.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2020

| office = Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

| leader = Jeremy Corbyn

| term_start = 27 June 2016

| term_end = 7 October 2016

| predecessor = Jon Trickett

| successor = Teresa Pearce

| office1 = Member of Parliament
for Easington

| term_start1 = 6 May 2010

| term_end1 =

| predecessor1 = John Cummings

| successor1 =

| majority1 = 6,581 (19.0%)

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1961|03|13}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| residence = Seaham, County Durham, England

| alma_mater = Newcastle College
Newcastle Polytechnic

| party = Labour

| otherparty = Socialist Campaign Group

| website = {{Official website|https://www.grahamemorrismp.co.uk/}}

}}

Grahame Mark Morris{{London Gazette |issue=59418 |date=13 May 2010 |page=8741}} (born 13 March 1961){{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/64630.stm |title=Grahame Morris MP |publisher=BBC |work=BBC Democracy Live |access-date=25 July 2010}} is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Easington since 2010.

Morris briefly served on the Opposition frontbench of Jeremy Corbyn in 2016, and now remains in the House of Commons as a backbencher.

Early life and career

Grahame Morris was born on 13 March 1961, and was educated at Howletch Comprehensive School (now East Durham College). He first worked as a medical laboratory scientific officer in hospitals in Sunderland. Morris has been involved with politics since 1987 when he became a District Councillor for Easington. He worked as a researcher for his predecessor MP for Easington John Cummings since 1997, and was also Secretary of Easington Labour Party.

Parliamentary career

At the 2010 general election, Morris was elected to Parliament as MP for Easington with 58.9% of the vote and a majority of 14,982.{{cite web |title=Election Data 2010 |url=http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2010.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726162034/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2010.txt |archive-date=26 July 2013 |access-date=17 October 2015 |publisher=Electoral Calculus}}http://www.durham.gov.uk/PDFApproved/ParliamentaryElection2010_SoPN_EAS.pdf{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite news |title=BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Easington |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/b49.stm |work=BBC News}} He was one of a handful of Labour MPs newly elected in 2010 considered to be on the left of the party politically.{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Owen|title=Yes, there is still life for the left after Tony Benn and Bob Crow|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/left-after-tony-benn-bob-crow|access-date=5 April 2015|publisher=Guardian|date=14 March 2015}}

Morris chairs the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.{{cite news |author=Dysch, Marcus |date=22 September 2014 |title=Ed Miliband defends Labour stance on Gaza conflict |url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/123174/ed-miliband-defends-labour-stance-gaza-conflict |access-date=23 September 2014 |work=The Jewish Chronicle}} In October 2014, he presented the motion in Parliament calling on the government to formally recognise Palestinian statehood.{{cite news |date=13 October 2014 |title=Grahame Morris on MPs recognising state of Palestine |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29598512 |access-date=5 April 2015 |publisher=BBC}}

Morris was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.{{cite news|last1=Eaton|first1=George|title=The Labour left demand a change of direction – why their intervention matters|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/01/labour-left-demand-change-direction-why-their-intervention-matters|access-date=5 April 2015|publisher=New Statesman|date=26 January 2015}}

At the 2015 general election, Morris was re-elected as MP for Easington with an increased vote share of 61% and a decreased majority of 14,641.{{cite web |title=Election Data 2015 |url=http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017112223/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt |archive-date=17 October 2015 |access-date=17 October 2015 |publisher=Electoral Calculus}}

Morris was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015, after the 2015 general election.{{cite web|last=Bright |first=Sam |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/06/who-nominated-who-2015-labour-leadership-election |title=Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election? |publisher=Newstatesman.com |date=15 June 2015 |access-date=19 July 2016}}

On 27 June 2016, Morris was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention.{{cite news |url=http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/politics/easington-mp-appointed-to-jeremy-corbyn-s-shadow-cabinet-1-7985886 |title=Easington MP appointed to Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet |author=Ross Robertson |newspaper=Sunderland Echo |date=28 June 2016 |access-date=3 July 2016}}

Morris was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 63.7% and an increased majority of 14,892.{{cite news |title=Easington Parliamentary constituency |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000677 |access-date=24 November 2019 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}}

On 22 April 2019, Morris retweeted a video he had received, supposedly about Palestinian children, and captioned it as Israeli soldiers "caught on camera beating up Palestinian children for the fun of it". However, the video was actually of Guatemalan, not Israeli, soldiers.{{cite news |author= |date=April 22, 2019 |title=UK Labour MP uses footage of Guatemalan troops to castigate IDF |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-labour-mp-uses-footage-of-guatemalan-troops-to-castigate-idf/ |newspaper=The Times of Israel |access-date=April 23, 2019}}{{cite news |last=Frantzman |first=Seth J. |date=April 23, 2019 |title=A Labour MP Tweets False Video of IDF 'Abuses' |url=https://www.jpost.com/International/A-Labour-MP-tweets-false-video-of-IDF-abuses-587664 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=April 23, 2019}} Morris later apologised and said it was an "honest mistake".{{cite news|url=https://news.sky.com/story/labour-mp-grahame-morris-apologises-over-fake-israel-attack-video-11701408|title=Labour MP Grahame Morris apologises over fake Israel attack video|last=Allegretti|first=Aubrey|date= 23 April 2019|access-date=1 May 2019|work=Sky News}} He referenced the dangers of fake news and said he would check sources with more care in future.{{cite news|url=https://www.denbighshirefreepress.co.uk/news/national-news/17591366.labour-mp-apologises-after-falsely-blaming-israeli-soldiers-for-attack/|title=Labour MP apologises after falsely blaming Israeli soldiers for attack|date=23 April 2019|access-date=1 May 2019|work=Denbigh Free News}}

At the 2019 general election, Morris was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 45.5% and a decreased majority of 6,581.{{cite news |title=Easington Parliamentary constituency |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000677 |access-date=24 November 2019 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}} He was again re-elected at the 2024 general election, with an increased vote share of 48.9% and a decreased majority of 6,542.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001211 Easington]

Personal life

Morris lives in Seaham, County Durham.{{cite news|title=Profile – Grahame Morris|work=The Daily Telegraph|url=http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Easington/Grahame+Morris|url-status=dead|access-date=7 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831205250/http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Easington/Grahame+Morris|archive-date=31 August 2011}} He is a prominent supporter of Sunderland A.F.C.{{Cite web|title=Sunderland AFC Ladies' WSL snub set to be raised in Parliament|url=https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/sunderland-afc-ladies-wsl-snub-set-be-raised-parliament-286447|access-date=2020-03-03|website=www.sunderlandecho.com|language=en}}