Peter Tierney Murrell (born 8 December 1964) is the current chief executive officer of the Scottish National Party (SNP). He is married to Nicola Sturgeon, the party's leader and First Minister of Scotland.

Early life and education

Murrell was born in Edinburgh on 8 December 1964. He attended

Craigmount High School Craigmount High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland with 1,269 pupils located in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated between Corstorphine, East Craigs and Drumbrae and it moved into new premises at ...

and studied at the University of Glasgow.

Career

Murrell has been chief executive officer of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since 1999 when he took over from Michael Russell. Previously he had worked in the Banff and Buchan constituency office of

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader o ...

, who was former party leader. The party's success in the 2007 elections was credited to the organisation of Murrell. Behind the-scenes meddling in his role as CEO were said to have earned him the nickname ‘Penfold‘, after Danger Mouse's sidekick in the children's cartoon series. Murrell was formerly the Company Secretary of Independence Merchandising Limited, a now-dissolved company that included as its directors SNP politicians Pete Wishart and

Stewart Stevenson James Alexander Stewart Stevenson (''Gaelic: Seamus Alasdair Stiùbhart MacSteafain''; born 15 October 1946) is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change from 2007 to 2010 and Minister for En ...

. In January 2019 Murrell came under pressure to resign from

Kenny Macaskill Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian since 2019. He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2007 to 2014 and was a Member of the Scottish ...

, former SNP Justice Secretary. Following his testimony to the

Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints was a Committee of the Scottish Parliament which was set up to investigate the Alex Salmond scandal, in which the Scottish Government breached its own guidelines in its ...

, Murrell was reported to the Lord Advocate by committee member Murdo Fraser, who alleged he had made a "false statement" under oath while giving evidence. Murrell said he “absolutely refuted” the allegation. Murrell is facing questions from party members over the alleged disappearance of £600,000 in donations to the party. Police in Scotland are currently investigating an allegation of fraud with regards to the same missing £600,000. ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' reported in June, 2021, that Police Scotland have been asked to investigate Murrell regarding a donation to SNP from lottery winners Colin and Christine Weir, which they subsequently asked to be returned to them.

Personal life

Murrell married Nicola Sturgeon in July 2010 at Òran Mór Glasgow. They first met in 1988 when Sturgeon, who volunteered at the Banff and Buchan constituency office of Alex Salmond, attended an SNP youth camp organised by Murrell. Sturgeon and Murrell became a couple in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murrell, Peter 1964 births Scottish people of Irish descent Living people Scottish chief executives Leaders of the Scottish National Party Alumni of the University of Glasgow Nicola Sturgeon Businesspeople from Edinburgh People educated at Craigmount High School