James Murray

James Murray grew up in Ealing North – where he is now MP – and has been an active participant in politics for over a decade. A career politician, he was first elected to the Islington Council in 2006, and between 2010-16 was executive member for Housing and development. Sadiq Khan appointed him as Deputy Mayor of London for housing after his 2016 election, when he successfully oversaw the first-ever City Hall initiative wholly dedicated to build new council homes at a cost of £4.8 billion. He knows Jeremy Corbyn well from his time on the Islington Council, and is said to have supported him in the Labour leadership election. Now with a majority of 12,269, Murray supported Emily Thornberry in the leadership election. In 2020, Murray was selected to replace left-winger Dan Carden as shadow financial secretary to the Treasury. He is considered to be ‘soft left’ of the party and his candidacy for MP was backed by Unite the Union.