Dr Andrew (William) MURRISON Conservative WESTBURY '01

Dr Andrew (William) MURRISON Conservative WESTBURY ‘01

Majority: 5,294 (10.5%) over LibDem 5-way Description: "My constituency straddles much of the territory that lies between Bath and Salisbury" (AM): four towns in west Wiltshire, including Westbury itself, the county town of Trowbridge, with its Cow & Gate headquarters, Bradford on Avon and Warminster, with its Army presence, plus a rural hinterland; near Edington in the constituency "King Alfred finally defeated the Danes and... founded the kingdom of Wessex"; "nestling under the escarpment of Salisbury plain is the ancient settlement of Westbury with its famous chalk white horse" (AM); in '95 it lost its most Labour- inclined town, Melksham, to the Devizes constituency; more oddly, in '00 it lost Harold Macmillan's 39-year-old grandson, Old Etonian David Faber, who had served 9 years as its MP; Position: Ex: Assistant to Lord Freeman, Conservative Central Office '99-00; Research Assistant, to Fareham's Sir Peter Lloyd '99-01; Outlook: His relatively late arrival in politics after a career as a Royal Navy doctor, was eased by his post as assistant to Lord Freeman in the Candidates Department at Conservative Central Office, from which he landed a safeish Westcountry seat at his first electoral outing; he "strenuously opposes membership of a European super-state" (WILTSHIRE TIMES); he backed the less Eurosceptic Michael Portillo and not Iain Duncan Smith in the '01 Leadership ballots; History: He joined the Conservative Party at 16, '77; he was politically inactive while serving fulltime in the Navy until '97; he served as Agent for Hampshire County Council and Fareham Borough elections '97-98; worked at Conservative Central Office with Lord Freeman '99; was selected to defend Westbury after the departure of David Faber Sep '00; he campaigned for fair state funding and, on behalf of local hospitals, improved health facilities; he retained the seat with a 5,294 majority, only 800 down on David Faber's '97 vote on a much-reduced poll yielding a tiny (.1%) swing to the LibDems June '01; he led his Maiden speech with an attack on PM Blair's "autonomous European military capability" as a "threat...to one of the most succesful postwar organisations, NATO, and to our symbiotic relationship with the United States"; he wound up by deploring the "parlous state" of the undermanned medical branch of the Royal Navy which he had just left, like "a rat leaving a sinking ship" according to one of his more acerbic colleagues July '01; he urged "increased recruitment into academic medicine" July '01; he urged the tightening of rules about locating mobile phone masts July '01; he voted for Portillo in the Leadership ballots; as he went to vote, a colleague told Frank Johnson of the DAILY TELEGRAPH, "He was a ship's surgeon; now he's a sinking ship's surgeon!" July '01; he complained that extra funds for neighbouring counties might enable them to buy up places and deprive the elderly of Wiltshire of places in their county's homes for the ailing elderly Oct '01; in the debate on Breast Cancer Strategy, he cast doubt on all Labour's initiatives in the field, concluding that "generally, the position is improving but we continue to lag behind our European counterparts, and the United States simply leaves us standing" Oct '01; in the debate on Genetics and Insurance, he insisted "our first concern must be to protect people from explicit and implicit compunction in genetic testing" Oct '01; Born: 24 April 1961 , Colchester Family: Son, of W G Murrison VRD, marine engineer, and Marion (Horn); m '94 Jennifer (Munden), physiotherapist; 5d: Sophia '94, Arabella '96, Henrietta '00, and twins Sarah and Philippa '97;

Education: Harwich High School; Harwich School; Bristol University (MB, ChB, on a RN Scholarship); Hughes Hall, Cambridge University (MD, DPh); RNC Dartmouth; RNC Greenwich; Occupation: Examiner, Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians '96- ; ex: Locum Consultant Occupational Physician, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital '00; Locum GP, Wiltshire '00; Staff Officer, Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Headquarters, Northwood '99- 00; Surgeon Commander, Royal Navy '99: Principal Medical Officer, Portsmouth Naval Base '96-99; Service Fellow, Hughes Hall, Cambridge '95-96; GP in Navy and NHS practice, Northwood, Middlesex '94-95; Hospital Doctor '92-94; Research Registrar '89-92; Hospital Doctor, Portsmouth and Plymouth '87-89; Ship's Doctor on HMS Bristol '85-87; House Surgeon and Physician, Bristol and Plymouth '84-85; Author: Investors in Communities; Traits: Parted dark hair; slim triangular face; awarded Gilbert Blane Medal for Research into diving-related illness; Address: House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA; Lovemead House, Roundstone Street, Trowbridge, Wilts BA14 8DG; Castle Cottage, 219 Castle Street, Portchester, Fareham, Hants PO16 9QW (home); Telephone: 0207 219 8337 (H of C); 01225 752141/776942 Fax (constituency); 023 923 26244/391 Fax; [email protected];