Grahame Morris

Grahame Mark Morris[1] (born 13 March 1961)[2] is a British Labour Party politician. He was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Easington, replacing Labour MP John Cummings, who decided to step down.[3]

Grahame Morris

MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention
In office
27 June 2016 – 7 October 2016
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byJon Trickett
Succeeded byTeresa Pearce
Member of Parliament
for Easington
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byJohn Cummings
Majority6,581 (19.1%)
Personal details
Born (1961-03-13) 13 March 1961
Political partyLabour
Alma materNewcastle College
Newcastle Polytechnic
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and career

Born in 1961, Morris was educated at Howletch Comprehensive School (now East Durham College). He first worked as a medical laboratory scientific officer in the Sunderland Group of hospitals, but has been involved with politics since 1987 when he became a District Councillor for Easington. He worked as a researcher for previous MP John Cummings since 1997, and was also Secretary of Easington Constituency Labour Party.

Parliamentary career

Morris was one of a handful of Labour MPs newly elected in 2010 considered to be on the left of the party politically.[4] He was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.[5]

In Parliament he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Meg Hillier and later to Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachael Reeves. He served on the Health Select Committee.

Morris chairs the Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East.[6] He presented the motion in Parliament calling on the government to formally recognise Palestinian statehood.[7] He is Chair of the Unite Group in Parliament and is a champion of people with disabilities. He takes a close interest in animal welfare issues. Morris was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[8]

On 27 June 2016, Morris was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention.[9]

On 22 April 2019, Morris retweeted a video supposedly about Palestinian children he had received and captioned it Israeli soldiers "caught on camera beating up Palestinian children for the fun of it." However, the video was actually of Guatemalan, not Israeli, soldiers.[10][11] Morris later apologised and said it was an "honest mistake" although he did not go so far as to castigate Guatemala in the same manner.[12] He referenced the dangers of fake news and said he would check sources with more care in future.[13]

Personal life

He lives in Seaham, County Durham.[14] He is a prominent supporter of Sunderland A.F.C.[15]

References
  1. "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8741.
  2. "Grahame Morris MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  3. "Election 2010: Easington". BBC Election 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  4. Jones, Owen (14 March 2015). "Yes, there is still life for the left after Tony Benn and Bob Crow". Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  5. Eaton, George (26 January 2015). "The Labour left demand a change of direction – why their intervention matters". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  6. Dysch, Marcus (22 September 2014). "Ed Miliband defends Labour stance on Gaza conflict". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  7. "Grahame Morris on MPs recognising state of Palestine". BBC. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  8. Bright, Sam (15 June 2015). "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". Newstatesman.com. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  9. Ross Robertson (28 June 2016). "Easington MP appointed to Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet". Sunderland Echo. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  10. "UK Labour MP uses footage of Guatemalan troops to castigate IDF". The Times of Israel. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  11. Frantzman, Seth J. (23 April 2019). "A Labour MP Tweets False Video of IDF 'Abuses'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  12. Allegretti, Aubrey (23 April 2019). "Labour MP Grahame Morris apologises over fake Israel attack video". Sky News. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  13. "Labour MP apologises after falsely blaming Israeli soldiers for attack". Denbigh Free News. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  14. "Profile – Grahame Morris". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  15. "Sunderland AFC Ladies' WSL snub set to be raised in Parliament". www.sunderlandecho.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Cummings		 Member of Parliament
for Easington
2010–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Jon Trickett		 Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
2016		 Succeeded by
Teresa Pearce
Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention
2016
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