James Murray (London politician)

James Stewart Murray (born 13 July 1983) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing North since 2019. He has served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury since 9 July 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he was Deputy Mayor of London for Housing from 2016 to 2019.

Early life and education
James Murray was born in Hammersmith, London, to parents Geoffrey and Lynne Murray. His mother Lynne was a Labour councillor for Cleveland ward in Ealing from 2014 to 2018. He grew up in West Ealing, attending a private school, before studying PPE at Wadham College, Oxford. Murray graduated with a BA First Class degree in 2004.

Political career
Murray served as a councillor in Islington from 2006 to 2016, representing Barnsbury ward. He was the borough's Executive Member for Housing and Development from 2010 to 2016. In this role, Inside Housing reported that he "proved himself to be a tough negotiator who knows what he wants".

He advised Sadiq Khan during his successful selection and election campaigns to become Mayor of London, and was appointed by Khan as London's Deputy Mayor for Housing in 2016.

As Deputy Mayor, Murray championed a new 'fast track' approach to affordable housing requirements for development in London. The new approach encouraged developers to offer more affordable homes upfront in exchange for dropping complex viability negotiations. It boosted affordable housing provision and won backing from many in property industry for speeding up the process.

Murray also oversaw the Mayor's £4.8bn affordable homes investment programme. He developed the first-ever City Hall initiative dedicated to building council homes, Building Council Homes for Londoners, which raised council homebuilding to its highest level in 34 years.

Parliamentary career
At the 2019 general election, Murray was elected to Parliament as MP for Ealing North with 56.5% of the vote and a majority of 12,269. He gave his maiden speech in January 2020. He became a member of the Health and Social Care Committee in March 2020 and was appointed to the Opposition Whips' Office in April 2020.

On 16 October 2020, he was appointed Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, following the resignation of Dan Carden the previous day relating the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill.

As Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, he has led for the Opposition on legislation including several finance bills, and bills affecting stamp duty and National Insurance Contributions.

Personal life
Murray lives in West Ealing with his husband Tom Griffiths. In the late 2000s, Murray was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. He received treatment at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, and is now symptom-free.