Grahame Mark Morris (born 13 March 1961) is a

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. 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. Morris briefly served on the

Opposition frontbench of Jeremy Corbyn The frontbench of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. From 2015 to 2020, Her Majes ...

in 2016. He remains in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

as a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

Early life and career

Born in 1961, Morris was educated at Howletch Comprehensive School (now

East Durham College East Durham College, formerly known as East Durham & Houghall Community College, is a community college with campuses in Peterlee and Houghall, south-east of Durham. The college student roll at the time of a February 2014 Ofsted report was 1,5 ...

). 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. He was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. 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. In Parliament he was

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change,

Meg Hillier Dame Margaret Olivia Hillier (born 14 February 1969), known as Meg Hillier, is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney South and Shoreditch at the 2005 general election, was a ...

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. He presented the motion in Parliament calling on the government to formally recognise

Palestinian statehood The history of the State of Palestine describes the creation and evolution of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the Mandatory period, numerous plans of partition of Palestine were proposed but without the agreem ...

. 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 Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. On 27 June 2016, Morris was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as

Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government The Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is a position with the UK Opposition's Shadow Cabinet; if the opposition party forms a new government, the designated person is a likely choice to become the new Levelli ...

and

Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, ...

. 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. Morris later apologised and said it was an "honest mistake". He referenced the dangers of fake news and said he would check sources with more care in future.

Personal life

He lives in

Seaham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and c ...

, County Durham. He is a prominent supporter of

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

He is married with two sons.

Notes

References

External links

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Grahame 1961 births Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Living people People from Seaham UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present