Karie Murphy

• Nurse
• trade unionist
• political strategist

Karie Murphy
Executive Director of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition
In office 12 February 2016 –4 April 2020

Karie Murphy is a British trade unionist and political strategist who served as the Executive Director of the Leader of the Opposition's Office under Jeremy Corbyn from 2016 to 2020.

Early career

Murphy was a nurse for 25 years before entering trade union politics. ^[1] She worked with HIV positive patients at Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland.

Political career

Murphy has a long career in the Labour movement, including several years on the staff of Tom Watson.^{[ citation needed ]}

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, whose candidature had been promoted by Len McCluskey, was cleared of any wrongdoing but withdrew from the contest. ^{[2] [3]}

From 2016, Murphy was executive director of the Leader's Office, under Jeremy Corbyn. ^{[4] [5]} Along with Seumas Milne, Andrew Murray and 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. ^[6]

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. ^[7] Among the team, Murphy was reported as having come closest to predicting the result. ^[8]

In October 2019, Murphy was seconded to Labour head office to lead the forthcoming general election campaign, which resulted in Labour's worst performance since 1935. ^[9]

Following the 2019 general election, which saw Labour achieve its fewest seats since the 1935 election, some attributed the defeat to Murphy's strategic approach. She had reportedly told advisors that the election was to be "a full-on assault" and that "every single seat is there for the battle." ^[10] 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). ^[10] Sources in The Times newspaper criticised the failure to provide resources to internal Corbyn critics such as Ruth Smeeth, Mary Creagh, and Melanie Onn, ^[10] 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 ^[10] instead of Conservative-Labour marginals in nearby Aberconwy and Clwyd West. The Times claimed it had spoken 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 that she and McCluskey had been driven by a desire 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. ^[11] The Guardian reported "some [Labour Party] members were infuriated by the news". ^[11] Labour Deputy Leader candidate Rosena Allin-Khan stated that "anyone being investigated by the EHRC (should not) be recommended for a peerage". ^[11] In June 2020, it was reported that Murphy's peerage had been blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission ^[12] and subsequently her name did not appear on the list of confirmed peerages in August 2020.

In October 2021, the Labour Party named Murphy as being one of the persons responsible for the deliberate leaking of thousands of items of personal data. Labour also revealed they are taking legal action against Murphy over the same issue. The leaking of the data is likely to cost Labour millions of pounds in fines and payments. ^[13]

Personal life

In 2017, Murphy revealed she had donated a kidney to save the life of a boy she did not know. ^[14]

In 2021, McCluskey wrote in his autobiography that he used funds from the Unite trade union, of which he was then leader, to pay libel lawyers to prevent the press from publishing that he and Murphy were in a romantic relationship even though they were. ^[3]

References

1. Eaton, George (5 March 2018). "The meaning of Corbynism". New Statesman.
2. Syal, Rajeev (6 September 2013). "Karie Murphy withdraws as Labour candidate for Falkirk after union row". The Guardian . No. 6 September 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
3. "Fruity of the Union". Private Eye . 17 September 2021. p. 15.
4. "Karie Murphy wins role in Corbyn's office". LabourList. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
5. Howell, Steve (2018). Game Changer - Eight Weeks That Transformed British Politics. Accent Press. p. Appendix 1. ISBN   978-1786155863.
6. "Listen: The end of no-deal Brexit and Labour's shifting stance". Financial Times . 26 January 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
7. Stewart, Heather (22 September 2017). "The inside story of Labour's election shock". The Guardian.
8. Nunns, Alex (2018). The Candidate: Jeremy Corbyn's Improbable Path to Power (2nd ed.). OR Books. ISBN   978-1-68219-105-7. 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.
9. 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.
10. Pogrund, Gabriel; Wheeler, 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.
11. 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.
12. Rentoul, John (1 June 2020). "Former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson rejected for peerage". The Independent. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
13. Mason, Rowena (11 October 2021). "Labour to accuse five ex-staff members of leaking antisemitism report". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
14. Fisher, Lucy (27 September 2017). "Corbyn aide Karie Murphy donated kidney to save boy she had never met". The Times.