Simon Murray, Baron Murray of Blidworth

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Lord Murray of Blidworth

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Official portrait of Lord Murray of Blidworth crop 2.jpg

| caption = Lord Murray of Blidworth, 2022

| imagesize =

| office2 = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Migration and Borders {{efn|Minister of State for Home Affairs until 30 October 2022}}

| primeminister2 = Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak

| term_start2 = 7 October 2022

| term_end2 = 14 November 2023

| predecessor2 = The Baroness Williams of Trafford

| successor2 = The Lord Sharpe of Epsom

| office3 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal

| term_start3 = 24 October 2022
Life Peerage

| birth_name = Simon Peregrine Gauvain Murray

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|8|2|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British and Irish

| party = Conservative

| alma_mater = University of St Andrews

}}

Simon Peregrine Gauvain Murray, Baron Murray of Blidworth (born 2 August 1974), is a British barrister{{cite web |title=Lord Murray of Blidworth |url=https://www.39essex.com/profile/lord-murray-blidworth |website=39essex.com |access-date=1 November 2024 |language=en}} and Conservative member of the House of Lords.{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction= University Press |title= Introduction: Lord Murray of Blidworth |url= https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2022-10-24/debates/82756443-95C3-4D98-BAFB-46EDC2A4E228/IntroductionLordMurrayOfBlidworth |house= House of Lords |date= 24 October 2022 |volume= 824 |column_start= |column_end= |speaker= |position=}} He served as a minister for the Home Office (2022–2023).{{cite web |title=Lord Murray of Blidworth |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/simon-murray--2 |website=GOV.UK |access-date=1 November 2024 |language=en}}

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,{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36794/supplement/5214/data.pdf |title=Supplement to the London Gazette |date=14 November 1944 |page=5214}} scion of the Arbuthnot baronets, his matrilineal great-great-grandfather, Sir Henry Blake GCMG, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong who hailed from the Anglo-Irish gentry being seated at Myrtle Grove, County Cork.{{cite journal |last1=Hawkins |first1=Richard |title=Blake, Sir Henry Arthur |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/blake-sir-henry-arthur-a0711 |website=dib.ie |publisher=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=1 November 2024 |doi=10.3318/dib.000711.v1 |date=October 2009}}[https://www.burkespeerage.com/preview.php?book=Preview%20of%20Burke%E2%80%99s%20Landed%20Gentry%20Irish%20Family%20Records&ref=pIrish&page=1&totalPages=10&from=subs_ind Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland (1958)] Of Scots patrilineal descent, his grandfather was Dr Ronald Murray MBE FRCPE,[https://web.archive.org/web/20200810082335/https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/22.prcpe_26_1_college_affairs.pdf Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh] a kinsman of the Duke of Atholl.

After graduating from the University of St Andrews with an undergraduate Master of Arts (MA Hons), Murray was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 2000.{{cite web |title=Simon Murray |url=https://www.innertemple.org.uk/people/auto-draft-86/murray/ |website=innertemple.org.uk |publisher=Inner Temple |access-date=1 November 2024 |date=1 November 2017}} Lord Murray practises public law at 39 Essex Chambers.

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;{{Cite news |last=English |first=Eoin |date=2011-07-05 |title=Row over €150k painting found in dump to be settled |language=en |work=Irish Examiner |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20159970.html |access-date=2023-06-18}} 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.{{Cite web |website=democracy.gedling.gov.uk |publisher=Gedling Borough Council |date=2022-10-08 |title=Councillor details - Councillor Simon Murray |url=https://democracy.gedling.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=500000257&RPID=559187147 |access-date=2022-10-08 |language=en |archive-date=8 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008194948/https://democracy.gedling.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=500000257&RPID=559187147 |url-status=dead }}

Appointed Minister of State for the Home Office{{Cite web |title=Ministerial Appointments: September 2022 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-september-2022 |access-date=2022-10-08 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} by Prime Minister Liz Truss on 9 October 2022,{{Cite web |title=Minister of State |website=GOV.UK |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-of-state--140 |access-date=2022-10-08 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009233447/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-september-2022 |archive-date=9 October 2022}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4950/career|title=Lord Murray of Blidworth |website=MPs and Lords |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=18 June 2023}}

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,{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction= United Kingdom |title= Republic of Ireland: British Passports |url= https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2022-10-26/debates/4AABF960-6E19-41C8-84D2-314B98A7D708/details#contribution-5DBB6849-6835-4A8F-AB63-A09677F24E7C |house= House of Lords |date= 26 October 2022 |volume= 824 |column_start= 1540 |column_end= 1544 |speaker= Lord Murray of Blidworth |position= Minister of State, Home Office}} and served in the Home Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary from 30 October 2022 until 14 November 2023.{{cite web |title=Ministerial Appointments: October - November 2022 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-25-october-2022 |website=GOV.UK |publisher=Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street |access-date=1 November 2024 |language=en |date=24 November 2022}}

Personal life

Murray married Amelia May Beaumont (born 1983), a granddaughter of the Revd Baron Beaumont of Whitley and great-granddaughter of Lady May Abel Smith,[https://debretts.com/peerage-and-baronetage/ Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage 2019] at Temple Church London, on 4 October 2007.

Lord and Lady Murray have two children.[https://www.burkespeerage.com/ www.burkespeerage.com]

A Freeman of the City of London and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners,[https://scriveners.org.uk/ www.scriveners.org.uk] Lord Murray is a member of MCC and since 2002 serves on the ceremonial staff as an Esquire of the Order of St John.{{London Gazette |issue= 56475 |date= 7 February 2002 |pages= 1555-1556 |supp= |city= |title= }}