Karie Murphy

Karie Murphy is a British nurse, trade unionist, and political strategist who was Executive Director of the Labour Party's Leader's Office under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. In October 2019, she was chosen to lead the party's General Election campaign.

Karie Murphy
Executive Director, Labour Leader's Office
Assumed office
12 February 2016
Preceded byGreg Beales
Personal details
Born
Karie Murphy
NationalityScottish
British
Political partyLabour
Profession

Early career

Murphy trained as a nurse in Glasgow and worked with HIV+ patients at Ruchill Hospital. She was a nurse for 25 years before entering trade union politics.[1]

Political career

Murphy has a long career in the Labour movement, including several years on the staff of Tom Watson.

She has sought nomination as a Labour Party parliamentary candidate several times. In 2013, the selection process for Falkirk led to a party inquiry into accusations of vote-rigging. Murphy was cleared of any wrongdoing but withdrew from the contest.[2]

Since 2016, she has been Executive Director of the Leader's Office, under Jeremy Corbyn.[3][4] Along with Seumas Milne, Andrew Murray and Len McCluskey she has been identified as one of the "Four Ms" who it is claimed had significant influence on Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party.[5]

In the 2017 general election, it was the Labour leadership's office team, led by Murphy, that was credited with the foresight to approach the poll in ways barely understood by most media commentators at the time, resulting in a hung parliament.[6] Among the team, Murphy was reported as having come closest to estimating the result.[7]

In October 2019, she was seconded to Labour head office to lead the prospective general election campaign.[8]

Following the 2019 general election which saw Labour achieve its fewest seats since the 1935 general election, some attributed the defeat to Murphy's strategic approach. Murphy had reportedly told advisors that the election was to be "a full-on assault" and that "every single seat is there for the battle."[9] The Sunday Times leaked a list of target seats on 19 January which included Stourbridge (Con majority 7,654), Dover (6,437) and Gloucester (5,520).[9] Sources in The Times criticised the perceived failure to provide resources to internal Corbyn critics such as Ruth Smeeth, Mary Creagh, and Melanie Onn,[9] as well as the decision to target seats such as Finchley and Golders Green where former Labour MP Luciana Berger was running, and Plaid Cymru-held Arfon[9] instead of Conservative-Labour marginals in nearby Aberconwy and Clwyd West. The Times claimed it had spoke to some senior figures in the Labour Party who felt Murphy approached the contest with a "deranged optimism" after the 2017 election, while others felt Murphy had been driven by a desire from Murphy and Len McClusky to "prove wrong" pro-EU MPs such as Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry.

Despite the result of the election, Murphy was named by Corbyn in his dissolution honours list.[10] The move was praised by Skwawkbox which described Murphy as "Corbyn’s ‘firewall’ during some of the parliamentary right’s most inexcusable behaviour:"[10] However, the Guardian reported "some members were infuriated by the news".[10] Labour Deputy Leader candidate Rosena Allin-Khan stated that "anyone being investigated by the EHRC (should not) be recommended for a peerage".[10] In June 2020, it was reported that Murphy's peerage had been blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission[11] and subsequently her name did not appear on the list of confirmed peerages in August 2020.

Personal life

In 2017, Murphy revealed she had donated a kidney to save the life of a boy she did not know.[12]

References
  1. Eaton, George, "The meaning of Corbynism", New Statesman, 5 March 2018.
  2. Syal, Rajeev (2013). "Karie Murphy withdraws as Labour candidate for Falkirk after union row". The Guardian (6 September 2013). Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  3. "Karie Murphy wins role in Corbyn's office | LabourList". LabourList. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  4. Howell, Steve (2018). Game Changer - Eight Weeks That Transformed British Politics. Accent Press. p. Appendix 1. ISBN 978-1786155863.
  5. "Listen: The end of no-deal Brexit and Labour's shifting stance". Financial Times. 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  6. Stewart, Heather, "The inside story of Labour’s election shock", The Guardian, 22 September 2017
  7. "Corbyn asked everyone to write down a prediction. Murphy forecast Labour would win 39 per cent of the vote. Corbyn's was the second highest prediction" Nunns, Alex, The Candidate, Jeremy Corbyn’s Improbable Path to Power (2nd Edition), OR Books, 2018.
  8. Stewart, Heather (8 October 2019). "Karie Murphy, Corbyn's chief of staff, moved to Labour HQ after strategy spats". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  9. Wheeler, Gabriel Pogrund and Caroline (22 December 2019). "Secret dossier reveals Jeremy Corbyn's strategy was crude and vindictive". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  10. Stewart, Heather (19 January 2020). "Labour antisemitism row: Corbyn under fire over Karie Murphy peerage nomination". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  11. "Former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson rejected for peerage". www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  12. Fisher, Lucy, "Corbyn aide Karie Murphy donated kidney to save boy she had never met" The Times, 27 September 2017
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