Andrew Murrison

On 9 May 2019, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department for International Development and Minister for the Middle East at the Foreign Office, a post he held until the reshuffle of February 2020.

On 12 July 2017, Murrison was elected chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

Murrison's Westbury constituency was abolished at the end of the parliament of 2005 to 2010, but he was the Conservative party candidate for the new South West Wiltshire constituency, which includes most of his former constituency, and was elected on 6 May 2010.

In September and October 2008, he took part in Exercise Apollo, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, to refresh his skills, including dealing with combat casualties.

In the debate on a Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill in May 2008, he supported amendments to the bill aimed at reducing the maximum gestational age for an abortion from twenty-four to twenty weeks, commenting: "The shock of the abortion list twenty-five years ago is still clear in my mind. Since then, societal attitudes have changed, in part because of improved imaging of the unborn child. I'm sure the law needs updating and twenty weeks appears to strike the right balance".

In Commons divisions in 2007 on a number of House of Lords reform options, Murrison voted for options 7 and 8, proposing a 100% elected House of Lords, including the removal of all remaining hereditary peers, and against options 4 and 5, which proposed a partly elected and partly appointed upper chamber.

He was returned to parliament at the General Election in May 2005, and was appointed as shadow defence minister.

In 2005, he spoke in parliament against European military union, saying "The threat that the proposed Euro force might pose to one of the most successful post-war organisations, NATO, and to our symbiotic relationship with the United States, has surely not been adequately explored".

In 2004, in a free vote, he voted against the bill to ban foxhunting and hare coursing which became the Hunting Act 2004.

In 2003, as a naval reserve officer, he was recalled to serve in Iraq for a six-month tour of duty.

In November 2003, Murrison was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Health, while also taking an active interest in defence policy.

In the 2001 Conservative leadership election, Murrison supported Michael Portillo.

Until 2000, he served in the Royal Navy as a medical officer based at Fareham and retired with the rank of Surgeon-Commander. During his Naval career he served as an Honorary Research Registrar at Southampton General Hospital and spent one year as a postgraduate student at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, obtaining a Diploma in Public Health. From 2000, he worked as a general practitioner locum in Wiltshire and as a Consultant at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

In September 2000, Murrison was selected as the prospective Conservative candidate for the West Wiltshire constituency of Westbury and in June 2001 he was elected as Member of Parliament for the constituency. He was then appointed to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee and was also a member of the Standing Committee on the NHS Reform Bill.

Before entering full-time politics, Murrison was a member of the Bow Group, an assistant to Sir Peter Lloyd (the MP for his home constituency of Fareham), and then from 1999 to 2000 an assistant to Lord Freeman, whose role at Conservative Central Office was screening potential parliamentary candidates.

With the benefit of a Royal Navy scholarship, Murrison qualified as a doctor from the University of Bristol's medical school in 1984. He holds the degrees of MD, MB ChB.

Andrew William Murrison PC (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, naval officer and politician. After serving as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Westbury from 2001 to 2010, at the 2010 general election he was elected for the new seat of South West Wiltshire covering much of the same area, including the towns of Trowbridge, Warminster and Westbury.