10-26-2020, 11:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-03-2020, 02:11 AM by Ruth Murphy.)
If it isn't obvious, I gave up counting xp long ago but the admins seem to be doing a good job.
Have a biography though!
Biography
Ruth Elizabeth Collins was born in Norris Green, Liverpool in 1933. She was the 3rd - exact middle - child of 5, with two older brothers and two younger sisters.
Her parents were both Irish immigrants and devout Catholics. Her father, John, was a shipbuilder and her mother, Saoirse, stayed at home though often did a variety of odd jobs to keep the household afloat during poor times. Ruth's early childhood was defined by the extreme poverty of prewar Britain, with her youngest sister becoming permanently disabled due to a polio infection that could not be treated and her later childhood defined by the war, which her eldest brother had fought in. Ruth often cites the Labour government and its achievements as 'rescuing' her family.
Ruth was a bright child, though University was simply not an option for a woman of her background. Needing money desperately on leaving school, she took an apprenticeship at a drycleaners and worked there for many years. At age 21, Ruth married her childhood sweetheart Sean Murphy, with the two having four children - Aoife (b. 1956), Martin (b. 1957), Terry (b. 1960) and Jimmy (b. 1966). She has seven grandchildren.
Ruth had never considered union work, though had often found the help of unions whenever she had disputes with her employer. On giving advice to a workmate who had similar difficulties, Ruth was recommended to be a union rep. Though only initially pursuing it from a point of curiosity, Ruth quickly rose up the ranks of her union with the help of her force of nature personality and charisma, becoming such a focal point in the Union's structure that General Secretary and later BBC governor Alfred Allen commented that Ruth would "have taken my place, if she were a man."
Ruth took a particular issue in women's and children's issues, and left USDAW to serve a tenure as a policy officer in the Fawcett Society, with works published and campaigns waged by her helping to inspire the Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975.
Though she had been a Labour Party member since aged 16, and she had helped with some campaigns, but hadn't been so active. Having made her name as an effective Trade Unionist and women's rights campaigner, feminists in Merseyside had encouraged her to run as an MP when Ruth's home seat, Liverpool West Derby, was available. Initially dismissed by the CLP, feminist campaigners pledged to organise a Merseyside wide campaign boycott if the Labour Party would not consider her. They did, and she was selected, winning her seat in the October 1974 election.
Ruth gained a reputation as a staunch Labour loyalist, serving loyally and diligently under Wilson, Callaghan, Foot, Kinnock and then McCrimmon. She started her career as a PPS for Michael Foot, becoming extremely close to him, before becoming an arts Minister and becoming a Labour whip, where she was feared and respected by the PLP.
A strong Kinnock supporter and an advocate for the policy review, Murphy was promoted to Shadow Health Minister - privately telling colleagues that despite being promoted into Shadow Cabinet she resented that she had clearly been given a 'woman's job', and leaving the post with a mix of dissatisfaction and taking more time to care for her husband, who had fallen ill.
She reaccepted the job as Shadow Health Secretary after Kinnock's resignation, as her husband had recovered and Sir James McCrimmon - who she had privately voted for but not publicly endorsed - became leader, stating she believed he and Tommy Dawson 'deserved a chance.' From then on, her media profile and place in the Labour Party had grown further. Initially considered a 'soft left' Labour loyalist, Ruth has privately admitted to colleagues that she had 'shifted to the left' on matters of economics, but 'further to the centre' on more cultural issues in recent years.
![[Image: KATHY-BATES-2011-2.jpg]](https://www.palmbeachillustrated.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/78/2016/09/KATHY-BATES-2011-2.jpg)