Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958)
is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
author,
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
campaigner,
journalist, and former diplomat.
While he was the
British ambassador to Uzbekistan (2002–2004), he exposed the violations of
human rights in that country by the
Karimov administration. This led to conflict with his superiors in the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United ...
until finally he was removed from the post.
Specifically, Murray lodged formal written complaints to his superiors stating that it was morally and legally wrong to obtain intelligence under torture and that intelligence received by the
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...
(and the US
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
) from the Uzbek government was unreliable because it had been obtained through
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
.
Subsequently he became a political activist, campaigning for human rights and for transparency in global politics as well as for the
independence of Scotland. Between 2007 and 2010 he was the elected
Rector of the University of Dundee.
His books include two memoirs, first about his time in Central Asia, ''
Murder in Samarkand'' (2006), and then ''The Catholic Orangemen of Togo: and other Conflicts I Have Known'' (2009), about his early career years in West Africa; and a historical biography, ''Sikunder Burnes: Master of the Great Game'' (2016), about
Alexander Burnes
Captain Sir Alexander Burnes (16 May 1805 – 2 November 1841) was a Scottish explorer, military officer and diplomat associated with the Great Game. He was nicknamed Bokhara Burnes for his role in establishing contact with and expl ...
and
the rivalry between the 19th century British and Russian Empires over influence in Asia.
Early life and career
Family and education
Murray was born in
West Runton,
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, to Robert Cameron Brunton Murray and Poppy Katherine Murray ()
and was raised in neighbouring
Sheringham
Sheringham (; population 7,367) is a seaside town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District ...
. His father, one of 13 children, had worked in the docks in
Leith
Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith.
The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
, Scotland, before joining the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
.
Murray was educated at Sheringham Primary and then at
Paston School, an all-boys state
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
in
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. The town is located south of Cromer and Norwich is south.
Demography
The civil parish has an area of ...
in Norfolk, which he greatly disliked.
He told
John Crace in 2007 that pupils were obliged each week to don "military uniform and become cadets. Either I skipped school or refused to take part, so I was frequently suspended". His A-levels suffered as a result.
Murray became President of the
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included.
The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
n Federation of Young Liberals. Aged 16 he was elected to the National Council of the Liberal Party to represent the Eastern Region of England. At the
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...
, to which, Murray said, he barely gained admission to read Modern History, he "made a policy decision not to attend any lectures". Instead he "read voraciously" to teach himself, and graduated in 1982 with an
MA (Hons) first class.
He remained active in Liberal then Liberal Democrat politics, serving on the Students' Representative Council as an avowed liberal. Murray became President of
Dundee University Students' Association, elected to this
sabbatical office twice (1982–1983 and 1983–1984), an occurrence so unusual that
the university court (the highest body) changed the rules to prevent him running a third time.
He spent seven years in total at the university (he had to re-sit one year for not attending tutorials), compared with the four years for a Scottish first (honours) degree.
Early years in HM Diplomatic Service
Murray sat the 1984
Civil Service Open Competition exams in his second year as the Students' Association President because a woman he was interested in was also sitting them, although he had no interest in entering the civil service.
Later, after he was told he was in the top three of his year, he chose the
HM Diplomatic Service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Civil Service, which deals ...
because "it seemed marginally more glamorous than anything else on offer".
Murray had a number of overseas postings with the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom.
The office was created on 2 ...
(FCO) to Nigeria, Poland (in the 1990s, where he was first secretary heading the embassy's political and economic section)
and Ghana.
In London, he was appointed to the FCO's Southern European Department, as Cyprus desk officer, and later became head of the Maritime Section. In August 1991 he worked in the Embargo Surveillance Centre as the head of the FCO section. This job entailed monitoring the Iraqi government's attempts at smuggling weapons and circumventing sanctions. His group gave daily reports to
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
and
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
. In ''
Murder in Samarkand'', he describes how this experience led him to disbelieve the claims of the UK and US governments in 2002 about Iraqi
WMDs.
Ambassador to Uzbekistan
Murray was appointed ambassador to Uzbekistan, at the age of 43, where he was formally in office from August 2002 to October 2004, when he was dismissed. He told
Nick Paton Walsh, then with ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', in July 2004 that "there is no point in having cocktail-party relationships with a
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
regime".
In a 2005
University of York
The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
speech, Murray recounted that, about a fortnight after his arrival, he observed a court trial at which an elderly defendant said his statement about two of the other accused, nephews of his, had been made as he watched his children being tortured, and the claim the two men were associates of
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
was entirely false.
Human rights
In October 2002, according to
Nick Cohen
Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author, and political commentator. He was previously a columnist for '' The Observer'' and is currently one for ''The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left ''The O ...
in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', Murray "delivered a speech which broke with all the established principles of Foreign Office diplomacy".
"The brave and honest ambassador", Cohen commented,
spoke at a
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
conference hosted by
Freedom House
Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...
in
Tashkent
Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...
, although David Stern reported in January 2003 for
EurasiaNet
Eurasianet is a news organisation based at Columbia University's Harriman Institute, the United States, that provides news, information and analysis on countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus region, Russia and Southwest Asia. Launched in 2000, ...
that other western officials had made similar comments.
In the speech, Murray said that:
Nick Paton Walsh wrote in ''The Guardian'' that "
e Foreign Office cleared the speech, but not without an acrimonious struggle over its content".
Murray also said in his speech that the
boiling to death of two men (reportedly members of
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT; ) is an international pan-Islamist and Islamic fundamentalist political organization whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate to unite the Muslim community (called ''ummah'') and implement sharia glo ...
) was "not an isolated incident".
A photograph of one of the men showed that his fingernails had been pulled out.
The US ambassador
John Herbst was present at the event and reportedly "livid" at Murray's speech. According to a report in ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'', Murray was advised by Whitehall not to antagonise the government in Tashkent any further.
The Americans were said to have put pressure on the British government for Murray to tone down his comments.
The then
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...
confronted
Uzbek President Islam Karimov
Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov (30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was an Uzbek politician who served as the first president of Uzbekistan, from the country's independence in 1991 until his death in 2016. He was the last First Secretary of the ...
with Murray's claims.
Murray was summoned to the FCO in London and, on 8 March 2003, was reprimanded for writing to his employers, in response to a speech by President of the United States
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
criticising human rights violations by Saddam Hussein, that "when it comes to the Karimov regime, systematic torture and rape appear to be treated as
peccadilloes, not to affect the relationship and to be downplayed in the international fora. Double standards? Yes".
Murray believed the human rights abuses in Uzbekistan were worse than in Iraq in the run up to the
invasion of Iraq
An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression.
Generally, invasions have objectives ...
, but that the latter was being invaded while the government of the former was being supported.
In an internal document by Murray, later leaked to the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', he commented that
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...
(MI6) used intelligence provided by the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA) from the Uzbek authorities gained through torture. Murray wrote that "
rture dupes are forced to sign up to confessions showing what the Uzbek government wants the US and UK to believe".
"It is morally, legally and practically wrong to continue to receive this material. It is hypocritical and fatally undermines our moral standing", he wrote in a July 2004 dispatch.
Murray denied being responsible for the leaks.
According to Murray, the Uzbek government overstated the activities of local militants and their connections to
Al-Qaeda
, image = Flag of Jihad.svg
, caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
, founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden
, leaders = {{Plainlist,
* Osama bin Lad ...
.
He later wrote in ''The Washington Post'' that the material from the CIA "revealed the same pattern of information" as the "forced confessions" of which he had become aware.
In October 2004 the British government said neither it, nor the intelligence agencies, had ever used torture or encouraged others to so on its behalf.
A later enquiry by ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', in connection with an interview with Murray, did not indicate the British had instituted an "absolute ban" on using information gained via torture. According to Murray, in March 2003 the Foreign Office legal team told him there was nothing to prevent their use of information gained by the Uzbeks using these methods.
Disciplinary charges
Some of the embassy staff were sacked in July 2003 while Murray was away on holiday. They were reinstated after he expressed his outrage to the FCO. Later during the same holiday he was recalled to London for disciplinary reasons. He was confronted with 18 charges on 21 August 2003. These included "hiring dolly birds
retty young womenfor above the usual rate" for the
visa department, although Murray said that the department had an all-male staff, and Murray was accused of granting British visas to Uzbek women in exchange for sex in his office.
The FCO gave him a week to resign and told him that discussing the charges would be a violation of the
Official Secrets Act 1989
The Official Secrets Act 1989 (c. 6) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, thereby removing the public interest defence created by that section.
Lord Bingham ...
.
Representatives of the US embassy in Tashkent and the British Foreign Office later denied the US government had any involvement in Murray being recalled to London.
However, a "local analyst" in Tashkent told Nick Paton Walsh that Murray and the US ambassador
John Herbst (who left his Uzbekistan post in 2003) were regularly in heated disagreement.
Murray collapsed during a medical check in Tashkent on 2 September 2003 and was
airlifted to
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospita ...
in London. He was treated in hospital for
depression having seriously considered
taking his own life.
After an FCO internal inquiry conducted by Tony Crombie, Head of the FCO's
Overseas Territories Department, all but two of the charges (being drunk at work and misusing the embassy's
Land Rover
Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...
) were dropped. The charges were leaked to the press in October 2003.
Murray returned to work in mid-November 2003. Only a few days after his return to Uzbekistan, Murray suffered another health crisis and was again flown back to London for medical treatment for what turned out to have been a near-fatal
pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...
on a lung.
Around the same time, a group of more than a dozen British expatriates in Tashkent, including businessmen, wrote to the
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...
defending Murray as an advocate for inward British trade. One of the co-signers of the letter said there was a "common belief that Mr Murray is being sacrificed to the Americans".
Members of Ozod Ovoz (Free Voice), an Uzbeki free speech group, pleaded with Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
and US President Bush for Murray to remain in his post as he was "an example for other ambassadors". Murray's stance was also supported by
Clare Short
Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development from 1997 to 2003.
Short began her career as a civil servant. A member of the Labour Party until 2006, she was Member o ...
,
Secretary of State for International Development
The minister of state for development, formerly the minister of state for development and Africa and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom.
The offic ...
until her resignation in May 2003, and
Daniel Hannan, the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Member of the European Parliament
A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
(MEP).
The FCO exonerated Murray of all 18 charges in January 2004 after a four-month investigation but reprimanded him for speaking about them. Speaking in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
, the Foreign Office Minister
Bill Rammell
William Ernest Rammell (born 10 October 1959) is a former British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow from 1997 until 2010, and served as a Minister of State in several departments from 2002. From August 2 ...
said the government "endorse his comments about the human rights situation in Uzbekistan".
Removal from post
Murray was removed from his post in October 2004, shortly after the ''Financial Times'' leak which, Murray later told
Amy Goodman, he thought had been leaked by the British government to incriminate him.
The FCO denied any direct connection and stated that Murray had been suspended for disciplinary reasons after he gave a series of media interviews criticising the FCO.
He was suspended, amid claims that he had lost the confidence of senior officials and colleagues. The following day, in an interview on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* The current day and calendar date
** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone
* Now, the time that is perceived directly, present
* The current, present era
Arts, entertainment and m ...
'' programme, Murray countered that he was a "victim of conscience", although he did not then believe the Americans were involved. A week later he was accused of "gross misconduct" by the FCO. A spokesman said "He is suspended on full pay pending an investigation into his conduct. I think it is more what he said than giving interviews" to the media.
In February 2005 Murray took a severance package from the FCO, most of which was used to pay tax and fund his divorce.
A later report by European investigators found that Uzbekistan was used as a base in the US programme of
extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism, euphemistically-named policy of state-sponsored abduction in a foreign jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The best-known use of extraordinary rendition is in a United States-led program during th ...
during the
War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire
* Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...
(the neighbouring country) and Iraq, which remained secret during Murray's time in the country, because such countries were tolerant of the use of torture. Speaking to
Kevin Sullivan of ''The Washington Post'' in January 2008 Murray gave this as a reason why the response to his revelations was so "ferocious".
Subsequent career
Alisher Usmanov affair
In September 2007 shortly after
Alisher Usmanov's investment in
Arsenal Football Club
The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional association football, football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of ...
, Murray blogged about the character of Usmanov, an Uzbek multi-billionaire whom ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' magazine had identified as the 142nd wealthiest person in the world.
Murray had written two "quite highly classified" telegrams about Usmanov's influence and commercial dealings to the Foreign Office in 2002 and 2004 while he was ambassador in Uzbekistan.
Usmanov's
solicitor
A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
s,
Schillings, requested that the hosting company
Fasthosts delete the material from Murray's blog. As a result, the server that hosted Murray's blog was permanently closed by the hosting company Fasthosts on 20 September 2007, an action which resulted in unintended deletion of other sites, including the blog by
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
.
An attempt to release the Foreign Office documents, including Murray's telegrams, was made by
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
, then a backbench
Labour MP, in whose constituency Arsenal is based. In late October 2007
Jim Murphy, then
minister for Europe, refused to release the documents on data protection grounds.
University career
Murray was elected to the position of
Rector of the University of Dundee, his ''
alma mater
Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...
'', on 16 February 2007. The other nominee was former
British Lion and
Scotland rugby captain
Andy Nicol. Murray opposed the cuts to University departments and services which were proposed.
He remained in the post until 2010.
Entrepreneurial activities
As of 2009 Murray was executive chairman of Atholl Energy Ltd and chairman of Westminster Development Ltd, a gold mining company, both operating in
Accra
Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
, Ghana.
Political activities
Murray remained a member of the Liberal Democrats until 2005. He continued to oppose the
War on Terror.
He stood for election to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
three times. At the
May 2005 general election he stood as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
, in
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...
, Lancashire, against his former boss, Jack Straw, then the MP for the constituency. He polled 2,082 votes (5.0%) and came fifth out of seven candidates.
Following the
United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal
The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expense claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and th ...
, Murray stood for election in the
July 2009 Norwich North by-election under the slogan "Put an honest man into Parliament".
He polled 953 votes (2.77%), which placed him sixth out of the twelve candidates.
Murray rejoined the
Liberal Democrats, according to his blog entry on 22 March 2010. By September 2011 he had left the Liberal Democrats again, as he objected to policies pursued by the coalition government, and joined the
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
.
[
Murray supported the "Yes" campaign in the ]2014 Scottish independence referendum
A independence referendum, referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or ...
. Following his failed bid for SNP nomination, Murray resigned from the SNP in March 2016 "to campaign for Scottish Independence" in the 2017 parliamentary election.
In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Member of the Scottish Parliament, ...
, Murray was chosen as the main candidate for Action for Independence
Action for Independence (AFI) was a minor political party in Scotland. It was set up in July 2020 by former Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Dave Thompson (Scottish politician), Dave Thompson to compete at th ...
in the Lothian
Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...
region. However, Murray and the other Action for Independence candidates stood down to support Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...
, who launched the Alba Party
The Alba Party (; ''Alba'' being the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland) is a Scottish nationalist and Scottish independence, pro-independence political party in Scotland. Founded in February 2021, it was led by former First Minister of Scotland, ...
.
In an April 2023 blog post titled "So Now Who Do We Vote For?", Murray advocated supporting the Alba Party in Scotland, the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
in England, Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...
in Wales and Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
in Northern Ireland.
In the July 2024 general election Murray stood for the Workers' Party in the Blackburn constituency. He came third with 7,105 votes, or 18.3%.
Investigative reporting
In 2011–2012 Murray exposed four undisclosed meetings that took place from September 2009 between Britain's then defence minister Liam Fox
Sir Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative ...
, Fox’s friend Adam Werritty and the UK Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
, possibly to promote a pro-Israel or anti-Iran foreign policy outside the control of the UK Foreign Office.
Scepticism about Salisbury poisoning
Murray questioned the official UK government account of the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
, March 2018, writing on his blog that Israeli security services were more likely to be behind the poisoning than Russia and that, while Russia lacked a motive, "Israel has a clear motivation for damaging the Russian reputation". This contributed to ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' and others writing that he had promoted conspiracy theories. Murray, who had visited the former chemical site at Nukus, Uzbekistan, where novichok was manufactured, stated that Russia's stocks had been dismantled with US assistance. He said "anyone who expresses scepticism" about Russian involvement in the poisoning "is seen as an enemy of the state". In September 2018 Murray claimed in a blog post that the photos issued by the Metropolitan Police of the suspects in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal were "impossible" because they depicted the two suspects at the same place at the same time. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed that the photographs "of two suspects at Gatwick are taken from two different cameras covering separate lanes at the point passengers exit from international arrivals". Murray retracted his claim, corrected his post and added a note that "it is good to acknowledge mistakes".
Relationship with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks
In December 2016 Murray said that the leak of Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
(DNC) and Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
campaign emails before the US 2016 presidential election was the work of a DNC insider, and said that he had met the leaker. Murray said that the US intelligence claims about the source of the leaks were "bullshit". Murray contradicted the conclusion of American intelligence services that the Russian authorities had hacked the DNC and Clinton servers. Assange responded to the claim by saying that "Craig Murray is not authorized to talk on behalf of WikiLeaks."
Murray was one of few people granted access to Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...
's extradition hearing which started in the Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
on 7 September 2020. He published detailed reports of each day's proceedings on his website. He was invited to Assange and Stella Moris' wedding at Belmarsh Prison in March 2022. The UK Ministry of Justice said it had barred Murray from attending due to security concerns. It had initially said that Murray had not been invited. Murray said his ban was aimed at isolating Assange.
Alex Salmond trial and contempt of court charge
Murray attended two days of Alex Salmond's trial in 2020 and wrote about the court proceedings on his blog and on Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. He alleged that the Scottish National Party leadership, the Scottish government
The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...
, the Crown Office and police conspired to convict Salmond on charges of sexual harassment and attempted rape.
The judge in the case, Lady Dorrian, had issued an order forbidding the publication of the names of the women who testified against Salmond, or other information that might identify them. In March 2021 she found Murray to be in contempt of court
Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...
after he published information that in her view could potentially lead to identifying some of the complainants, and sentenced him to eight months' imprisonment. In June 2021 she refused Murray's application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, saying that there were "no arguable points of law arising" in his appeal.
Murray appealed directly to the Supreme Court but his application was refused on 29 July 2021. Murray announced that he would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
and surrendered himself to the police on 1 August 2021. Alba Party MP Kenny MacAskill
Kenneth Wright MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for East Lothian (UK Parliament constituency), East Lothian from 2019 United Kingdom general elect ...
called Murray's sentencing "vindictive and a sad day for Scottish justice".
Murray was released on 30 November 2021, after serving half of his eight month sentence. In March 2022 the Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary
The High Court of Justiciary () is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff C ...
refused his petition to quash the finding of contempt along with the prison sentence.
Workers Party of Britain
In March 2024 Murray was selected as the Workers Party of Britain
The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), also called the Workers Party of Great Britain (WPGB) or Workers Party GB, is a Socialism, socialist and Social conservatism, socially conservative political party in the United Kingdom, strongly identified ...
candidate for the Blackburn constituency at the 2024 general election.
Personal life
Murray married his first wife, Fiona Ann Kennedy, in 1984. They had two children before separating in 2004. Murray married Nadira Alieva, an Uzbek woman, on 6 May 2009. They have two sons.
He is a friend of Peter Oborne
Peter Alan Oborne (; born 11 July 1957) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He is the former chief political commentator of ''The Daily Telegraph'', from which he resigned in early 2015. He is author of ''The Rise of Political Lying'' (2005 ...
, who described him as "one of the greatest truth-tellers of our time" and said that "Apart from Julian Assange, no one has done more to expose coalition crimes during the War on Terror."
In November 2023 Murray's Twitter account was hacked.
Works
''Murder in Samarkand''
Murray's book '' Murder in Samarkand – A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror'' (2006) is a memoir about his time as an ambassador.
In December 2005 Murray published confidential memos on his website, which had been officially removed from the text when ''Murder in Samarkand'' was submitted for checking. He had initially acceded to these cuts. According to Murray, the British government "refused to clear it" uncut. The Foreign Office, after publication was announced, "said that they wouldn't seek to prevent publication but that they may act against it later".
The British government claimed copyright over the documents in July 2006, saying they were "damaging to the national interest" and demanding they be removed. In response, Murray deleted some of the material.
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Murray's biography of Alexander Burnes
Captain Sir Alexander Burnes (16 May 1805 – 2 November 1841) was a Scottish explorer, military officer and diplomat associated with the Great Game. He was nicknamed Bokhara Burnes for his role in establishing contact with and expl ...
, first published in 2016, was reviewed favourably in a number of academic journals, including the historical and area studies
Area studies, also known as regional studies, is an interdisciplinary field of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what a ...
journals '' Asian Affairs'' and '' Central Asian Survey''.
Other books
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Awards
* January 2006: the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence, in recognition of his campaigning work on torture and human rights
* November 2006: the Premio Alta Qualità della Città di Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
Murray has turned down three honours
Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valo ...
from Queen Elizabeth, saying letters after his name are "not his thing".
Portrayals in fiction
Murray's life featured in a show by Nadira Alieva, ''The British Ambassador's Bellydancer'', initially presented in 2007 at the Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre is in the London Borough of Hackney. It presents plays, operas and musicals featuring established and emerging artists.
The theatre building, in the former Colourworks paint factory on Ashwin Street, Dalston, houses two studio ...
in Hackney, later moving to London's West End.
Robin Soans used an interview with Murray and Alieva as a character for his verbatim-style play ''Talking to Terrorists'' which had a successful run at the Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...
and has since been produced worldwide. Soans used Murray again as a verbatim character in his later play ''Life After Scandal'' in which Murray "tells of how scandal was used against him when the government wanted to undermine his claims about humanitarian disasters".
On 20 February 2010 BBC Radio Four
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at B ...
broadcast a radio play ''Murder in Samarkand'', written by Sir David Hare and directed by Clive Brill, based on Murray's book. The play, with David Tennant
David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...
portraying Craig Murray, was nominated for best drama at the Sony Radio Academy Awards 2011 and had positive reviews.
See also
* List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated Diplomacy, diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usua ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Craig
1958 births
20th-century British diplomats
Living people
Alumni of the University of Dundee
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Uzbekistan
British journalists
British human rights activists
British non-fiction writers
British political commentators
British bloggers
British republicans
English people of Scottish descent
People associated with WikiLeaks
People educated at Paston College
People from Sheringham
People from West Runton
Rectors of the University of Dundee
Workers Party of Britain parliamentary candidates
British activists for Palestinian solidarity
British anti-Zionists