Senior Cabinet Posts
He has been MP for Torfaen, Wales since the 1987 election. In opposition he served as a foreign affairs spokesperson and then in defence as navy spokesperson. He has served twice as Secretary of State for Wales on 28 July 1999 to 24 October 2002 and again from 2008 to 2009. He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 24 October 2002 to 5 May 2005. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1999.
He was succeeded by Peter Hain and left the government, becoming chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee in May 2005. He was also British Chair of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body and an Executive Committee member of the British-American Parliamentary Group. Murphy has admitted he thoroughly enjoyed this role.
He was re-appointed Secretary of State for Wales on 24 January 2008, following the resignation of Peter Hain. He was also given the job of chairing a new Cabinet Committee on the sensitive issue of IT and information security, in the wake of a rash of scandals surrounding the loss of personal data by Government agencies. In April 2008 he was appointed as the Government's Minister for Digital Inclusion.
Prior to joining the Cabinet he was Minister of State for political development in the Northern Ireland Office from 1997 to 1999 - acting as Mo Mowlam's deputy - and was largely responsible for negotiating the so-called strand two ('North-South' or 'Island of Ireland') arrangements agreed in the Good Friday Agreement. In 1999, he was named 'Minister to Watch' at the Spectator Parliamentary Awards.
In 2009 Murphy failed to secure his place in the reshuffle. Murphy was replaced with Peter Hain. It has never been made public why Murphy was replaced.
Murphy has been cited as a "Safe pair of hands", by Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair.
David Davies, MP for Monmouth once said: "Paul Murphy is clearly a very experienced member of parliament and whilst I and my colleagues will disagree with his policies and his government's policies and will certainly take him to task for that, he's a man who is, I think I probably can say, is widely respected on all sides of the House of Commons." (After hearing Murphy had been asked to become Secretary of State for Wales.
Read more about this topic: Paul Murphy (British Politician)
Famous quotes containing the words senior, cabinet and/or posts:
“Adolescents have the right to be themselves. The fact that you were the belle of the ball, the captain of the lacrosse team, the president of your senior class, Phi Beta Kappa, or a political activist doesn’t mean that your teenager will be or should be the same....Likewise, the fact that you were a wallflower, uncoordinated, and a C student shouldn’t mean that you push your child to be everything you were not.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“Fences, unlike punishments, clearly mark out the perimeters of any specified territory. Young children learn where it is permissible to play, because their backyard fence plainly outlines the safe area. They learn about the invisible fence that surrounds the stove, and that Grandma has an invisible barrier around her cabinet of antique teacups.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed;
Never so few, and never yet more need.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)