Jim Murphy says that “growing up poor in Glasgow and growing up white in South Africa” is what sparked his interest in politics.
His father was a builder who moved his family around Britain after work dried up in Glasgow. After spending time in Southampton living in a caravan, Murphy’s parents decided to emigrate to South Africa in search of employment in the 1980s.
He recalled: “It was the time of apartheid, which was vile. Black kids would sometimes come to our area and play football with us but then they went back to their townships and we wouldn’t see them again. Everything was segregated – houses, school, even beaches.”
Murphy, who was 12 when the family emigrated, decided to return to Scotland at the age of 18 rather than be conscripted into the South African army. He studied at Cardonald further education college in Glasgow, as his South African qualifications were not recognised in the UK, before going to Strathclyde university where he became involved in student politics, culminating in his election as president of the National Union of Students in 1994.
Just three years later he found himself elected to the House of Commons in the Labour landslide that put Tony Blair in Downing Street. Murphy admits that becoming MP for Eastwood in Strathclyde, which the Tories had held since the 1920s, was unexpected. “It was a massive adjustment and I think it took me about three years to get a sense of my way around parliament,” he once told NUS Connect.
The 47-year-old held several ministerial roles under Blair, including both Europe and employment and welfare reform. Gordon Brown made the father-of-three Scottish secretary and gave him additional responsibility for retaining Scottish seats at the 2010 general election.
Despite losing government, Labour returned the same number of Scottish MPs as it had in 2005, winning 41 of 59 seats north of the border.
Under Ed Miliband, Murphy was first shadow defence secretary, then shadow international development secretary, but gave up that role earlier this year to focus on his Scottish leadership bid.
He also played a prominent part in the No campaign ahead of September’s independence referendum.
The politician visited 100 towns across Scotland in a return to traditional soap-box style politics, though one voter in Kirkcaldy, Fife objected to his anti-independence stance and egged him.
Congratulating him on his win, Miliband said: “Jim showed in the referendum campaign that he is a fighter. He showed in the leadership campaign that he is a leader. I am going to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Jim in the campaign to get David Cameron out at the general election. The fight to get the Tories out is now on. It is a fight we intend to win.”
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: “I know Jim doesn’t shirk from a challenge, but given Mr Miliband is Labour’s biggest electoral liability since devolution, he’s going to have his hands full.
“Jim Murphy’s job is to try and put a tartan gloss on Ed Miliband’s fading challenge. He did a job of work in the referendum campaign, but it will take more than a 100-town tour to persuade people in Scotland to put Ed Miliband in Downing Street.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said that Murphy had the experience necessary to lead Labour in Scotland, but added: “He will need to draw on that experience to defend Labour’s economic record and counter the rise of the nationalist movement. Those tests will likely be the mark of his career.”
